The manager pointed out the obvious when he noted that we didn’t take our chances and got hurt as a result. He felt that the team had performed better that the previous week when they won in Inverness.
He was happy to talk up the contribution that Laing made to the game (with one glaring exception). He felt the partnership with McManus was good and that we’ll see him get better yet.
For those of us in the stands it looked like an opportunity lost. We were very impressive in the opening quarter but thereafter it was a fairly even affair. Home losses have, happily, become relatively rare occurrences and Saturday’s was the first since February when we lost to Dundee.
The crowd (4,895) was up slightly on last season’s opening day (4,620) when St Mirren were the visitors. It’s still the holiday season, even though the weather has been poor, and there were a few familiar faces missing – presumably chasing the continental sun.
We’ll face a stiff test on Wednesday in a Tynecastle Stadium eager to see their newly promoted favourites restored to the top division. Then Aberdeen come to Fir Park on Saturday. We’ll be in a better position to assess our early season form with four games gone.