We dominated the first half hour and should have had the game won. St Mirren came close to equalising just before the break and there was little surprise when they scored after van hour. We were a tad fortunate to collect two goals in the dying minutes.
St Mirren lost two goals because their players lost their footing on the perfect surface. Had they tumbled a year ago much would have been made of the poor Fir Park surface but the pitch was in wonderful shape and despite the relentless rain in the last few days there was hardly a blade of grass out of position after ninety minutes’ play.
The first stumble, from Cregg, allowed Humphrey to nip in and send a fine shot beyond Samson in the third minute. It was a perfect start and it gave our men the confidence to take charge. We took complete control and ran the show for the next half hour. The ball was passed easily and the visitors were given the run around. A Hateley free kick came off the bar and a Blackman low drive almost sneaked in at the corner but the killing second goal failed to arrive.
St Mirren were reduced to the long punt in Higdon’s direction and as the half drew to a close they had a couple of good chances. The last, coming from a corner in the added minute when Higdon’s header from the far post resulted in a scramble. The thinking at the whistle was that we might pay the penalty for missed opportunities.
Hateley tucks this away for a 2-1 lead
The second half followed a different pattern. We lost the initiative and were on the back foot. St Mirren got their reward when, following a poor headed clearance, Wardlaw thundered a 15 yard drive into the postage stamp corner. Saunders was carried off with a bad groin strain and Hammell came off the bench. The versatile Hateley switched to right back.
Our answer was to replace Sutton and Humphrey with Forbes and Gow but we packed the midfield and had only one up front. The clock ran on and it looked like a draw would give a share of the points. Brown said after the match that he would have settled for 1-1.
We were thrown the match inside the final 5 minutes when Gow chased a lost cause as the ball ran through to the ‘keeper. Samson lost his footing and Gow renewed his effort, still well out of range. Mair reacted to the slip by barging our man and the referee pointed to the spot. Hateley made no mistake and fired low to the ‘keeper’s right hand corner.
A minute later and Gow broke from his own half as St Mirren were caught upfield. He squared unselfishly for Murphy and suddenly we were -1 up!
The manner of the victory was not convincing but, at last, we have a home win and can relax over the international break knowing that we are in third place in the table.