Boss’s bow, and he’s back in the old routine
ST MIRREN 0 HEARTS 2 Simms (64), Devlin (67)
Stephen Robinson maintained his first game as St Mirren manager had a frustratingly familiar theme to it.
The Northern Irishman has been plying his trade in England with Morecambe for the last seven months and clearly hasn’t missed tangling with Scottish referees.
His reign in Paisley started with a defeat that seemed inevitable after his side was forced to play with 10 men for almost 70 minutes.
Conor Ronan was shown the red card by Greg Aitken when he was a little bit high with a challenge on Baningime.
Saints also felt they should have been awarded a penalty and were aggrieved that Hearts got a second goal while keeper Jak Alnwick was lying injured.
Robinson said: “I think the whole game was dictated through decisions – nothing seems to have changed since I’ve been away!
“At their second goal, Jak is adamant he had the ball in his
hands. The lad goes through, follows through, and the ball ricochets free.
“I think everybody was surprised not hear a whistle, including the fourth official, he told me.
“It looked like a blatant penalty to me for a challenge on Alex Grieve.
“The red card in the first half changed the game completely, rightly or wrongly.
“It didn’t look like there was too much malice in it to me. He didn’t know where the ball was and he turned into the player.
“In football you can control certain things but you can’t control referees’ decision-making.
“It’s probably best I say no more.”
Hearts made six changes as they attempted to avoid a fourth straight league defeat.
The visitors, who made six changes, came close to scoring early on when a series of whipped crosses from the left led to attempts on goal.
Boyce failed with a couple of deliveries that he really should have headed home.
St Mirren were just getting used to life under their new gaffer when they were reduced to 10 men.
Gary Mackay-steven was already on the ground recovering from a crunching tackle from Marcus Fraser, when Ronan swung a leg towards Baningme.
There wasn’t a great deal of contact but the referee, after a few seconds’ delay, whipped out the red card.
Saints kept it at 0-0 until half-time and had a decent claim for a penalty when Grieve went down under a challenge from Woodburn.
The Jambos made a triple substitution 10 minutes into the second half as they tried to take advantage of having an extra man.
It wasn’t long before their increased commitment to attack – with Ginnelly and Simms coming on – paid off.
Dunne slipped when trying to cut out a Mackay cross and Alnwick produced a tremendous save from Simms’ first effort but couldn’t stop the on-loan Everton man’s follow-up shot.
It was all over when Hearts made it two with a goal that was especially painful for Alnwick.
He saved bravely at the feet of Simms and received a fullblooded boot to the head in the process.
Cammy Devlin didn’t hang about to sympathise and he hit the loose ball high into the net as the goalie lay unable to move.
Alnwick produced a couple of great saves before and after the goals to deny Boyce and stop Simms bagging a brace. He kept the score down on the day.