Stephen Robinson’s side avenged their opening day defeat to Motherwell, ironically with former Fir Park striker Curtis Main netting the only goal of a closely contested 1-0 affair in Paisley.
There was very little between the sides and Motherwell, especially on their second half showing when they were a lot more threatening around Trevor Carson’s goal, will consider themselves extremely unlucky not to have taken at least a point.
The former Fir Parker stopper was by far the busier ‘keeper with a couple of late stops to earn the Buddies their first home win over ‘Well since 2015.
Steven Hammell made two changes from the side which won at Arbroath last week. With Mikaël Mandron injured in training ‘Well reverted to their more recognised attacking pair of Kevin van Veen and Connor Shields. Although latest signing Riku Danzaki was cleared in time for the game, the Japan midfielder didn’t feature in the squad.
St Mirren, whose only home defeat this season has been at the hands of the Steelmen, had four former Motherwell men in their starting line-up.
‘Well, in their luminous yellow kit, kicked off in blinding Paisley sunshine and the 900 travelling fans behind Liam Kelly’s goal were still shading their eyes from the sun when Scott Tanser slashed an early drive into the crowd.
For the next 10 minutes or so Motherwell were tidy in possession and a great move involving Max Johnston, Shields and Van Veen ended with Stuart Slattery’s snap shot being blocked in front of goal before Trevor Carson could be tested.
The former ‘Well man then had to watch as a series of crosses from Blair Spittal were headed clear of his six-yard box.
The only goal arrived after 16 minutes and came as a bit of a surprise. A clever exchange wide on the right between Marcus Fraser and Ryan Strain allowed the latter to drill the ball towards the ‘keeper’s front post. Amid a forest of legs Main got a touch to divert the ball between Kelly and his left-hand post.
That failed to deter Hammell’s men from continuing to slowly build from the back and on a perfect playing surface they did their best to get wide and behind the Buddy’s defence.
Despite Sean Goss from the right and Spittal from the opposite touchline frequently delivering crosses towards Carson’s goal, the Saint’s ‘keeper was rarely troubled in the first half.
Although his side trailed at the interval Hammell’s main criticism would be their pace of play towards the home goal.
Within two minutes of the restart Ricki Lamie led from the back. His long ball downfield was chased by Van Veen to win a corner. And when Spittal whipped the flag kick into the box Lamie rose to nod the ball across the goal face and just beyond the far post.
The Steelmen looked more direct and after 56 minutes Shields powered his towards the box before cutting the ball back to McKinstry around the penalty spot. With van Veen in support the Leeds loanee took too many touches and the chance was gone.
That was the final bit of action for Shields and Spittal as they were replaced by Ross Tierney and Olly Crankshaw.
Five minutes later the pair combined to split the Saint’s defence.
Showing great determination to keep possession Tierney released his fellow sub from the halfway line. Crankshaw looked to have the pace to get beyond Tanser but as the pair approached the edge of the box the defender’s sliding left foot cleared the danger.
Play raced to the other end where Lamie’s intervention blocked Main’s route into the box.
With 25 minutes remaining the game at last had an injection of some lively action for both sets of fans to enjoy.
After 71 minutes ‘Well came close to claiming a deserved equaliser. Crankshaw raced to the byeline and his cutback found Johnston at the edge of the box. His low drive was parried by Carson at full stretch before the ‘keeper quickly responded to throw himself on the loose ball to deny Van Veen a goal scoring touch.
The six minutes of additional time brought an encouraging response from the ‘Well fans and the team.
And three minutes from the end they were twice denied an equaliser when firstly Van Veen’s headflick and then McKinstry’s thumping drive were blocked in a packed six-yard box.
Despite returning from Paisley with nothing to show for their efforts there were a few positives.
Not least the performance of Shane Blaney who was commanding in the air and more than comfortable on the deck and the heart of a defence which limited Kelly to just one save.
