There were starts for Cummins, Hetherington and Kerr and by the last twenty minutes Carswell and Fancis-Angol had joined in to produce a Motherwell team that would have been unrecognisable to anyone who had seen the team at the end of last season. The youngsters did us proud and they were happy to join in the celebrations of Higdon's early goal.
Higdon's at the bottom of the pile!
St Mirren choose to switch ends after the toss and so it was the fans in the Cooper Stand who had the perfect view of Ojamaa's central flick on to the big striker with only a minute on the clock. He won a tussle at the edge of the box and coolly dispatched the ball to Samson's right to give us the lead while many fans were still settling into their seats.
Our inexperienced back line of Kerr, Hutchinson, Cummins and Hammell were soon tested at St Mirren set about recovering from the loss. and at times Randolph's goal seemed to have a charmed life as wave after wave of attacks fell on it.
We had few opportunities to extend the lead but Murphy's run from deep on the right wing deserves a mention. Hammell set him off with a delicate lob out of defence and off he scampered; first down the left wing then the characteristic cut inside that ended on the right flank with an exchange of passes that ended with Ojamaa firing just off target. Higdon closed the half with an underweight shot straight at the 'keeper.
The second half was dominated by St Mirren. They pressed and pressed but created very few clear chances. It looked as though the single goal would decide the game but everything changed as we entered the last ten minutes.
Hutchinson and Thomson clashed off the ball inside the Motherwell box and the defender needed treatment. His remonstrations with Thomson and the referee earned a yellow card as he hobbled off the pitch. Temperatures rose when St Mirren contested the drop ball at the restart and cards started to fly. Hutchinson received a second booking on 87 minutes for a firm tackle on Reilly but referee Morris did not hesitate before sending our man from the pitch.
Reilly was on hand three minutes into added time to take advantage of Randolph's parry and the game was level. There's no question that on the balance of play a draw was a fair result but it was cruel to lose a couple of points in that manner.