St. Mirren 4 - 2 Inverness CT

League Match
Saturday, September 9th, 2017, 3:00 PM at St Mirren Park, Paisley
Attendance: 3,610
Referee: Willie Collum
St. Mirren Inverness CT

Goalscorers
Lewis Morgan (31)
Gregor Buchanan (63)
Cameron Smith (73)
Ian McShane (74)
John Baird (61)
Liam Polworth (69)

Team Managers
Jack Ross John Robertson

Starting Eleven
Craig Samson
Jack Baird
Gregor Buchanan
Adam Eckersley
Gary Irvine
Stephen McGinn
Ian McShane
Stelios Demetriou
Cameron Smith
Lewis Morgan
Gavin Reilly
Mark Ridgers
Gary Warren
David Raven
Brad Mckay
Riccardo Calder
Joe Chalmers
Charlie Trafford
Iain Vigurs
Liam Polworth
Alex Cooper
John Baird

Bench
Ross Stewart
Daryl Duffy
John Sutton
Josh Todd
Jordan Kirkpatrick
Ross Stewart
Darren Whyte
Ryan Esson
Coll Donaldson
Carl Tremarco
Matthew Elsdon
Jake Mulraney
George Oakley
Connor Bell

Substitutions
Jordan Kirkpatrick -> Stelios Demetriou (85)
Josh Todd -> Cameron Smith (87)
Daryl Duffy -> Lewis Morgan (92)
Connor Bell for Riccardo Calder (56)

Bookings
Gregor Buchanan (6) Iain Vigurs (33)
Brad Mckay (89)

Red Cards
None. None.
Appearances & Goals To Date
Mark Ridgers (GK) 10 apps -
David Raven 173 apps5 goals
Riccardo Calder 10 apps1 goal
Joe Chalmers 10 apps -
Brad Mckay 38 apps2 goals
Gary Warren 195 apps18 goals
Liam Polworth 124 apps12 goals
Charlie Trafford 4 apps -
Alex Cooper 5 apps1 goal
Iain Vigurs 110 apps19 goals
John Baird 10 apps2 goals
Connor Bell (sub) 5 apps -

Starting Lineup
Youngest Player:Riccardo Calder (21 years 232 days)
Oldest Player:Gary Warren (33 years 32 days)
Average Player Age:27 years 35 days
Domestic Players:7 (63.64 % of starting eleven)

Matchday Squad
Youngest Player:Matthew Elsdon (20 years 82 days)
Oldest Player:Ryan Esson (37 years 183 days)
Average Player Age:26 years 134 days
Domestic Players:9 (50.00 % of matchday squad)

First Team Debuts

Milestones

Defensive woes the big issue: Inverness' defensive frailties allowed St Mirren to run away with the game in the second half as they notched a 4-2 victory over the Highland club. A first half goal from young sensation Lewis Morgan gave the Buddies the lead at the interval.

HT 0-1

The second half exploded into life around the hour mark when a phenomenon known as strikers goal afflicted Inverness. John Baird was the scorer. However that seemed to annoy the Buddies and they replied a minute later through Buchanan. Five minutes later Liam Polworth levelled again only for St Mirren to kick on once more through Smith and McShane, two goals in a minute and our defence exposed once more.

That crazy spell of five goals in thirteen minutes ended the scoring and the result puts St Mirren to the top of the league where they will be difficult to shift. We remain in seventh place.

POOR PAISLEY RETURN

It actually felt good going back to Paisley. No pre-match drinks in the Alamo, presumably avoiding the fly ridden buffet ?!! Often criticised as a Legoland stadium but I would have a similar set-up in Sneck in a feckin second. There was a good atmosphere and only 3610 in attendance – they pack their wee Ultras into the corner by the away end. That works a feckin treat as well. We mustered 150 and it was more of a case of the Under70’s than the Under 17’s !!

Jack Ross mentioned that his team were “enjoying their football” and that was clear to see. They are young, pacey, eager, energetic and confident. That apparently was the first time that Midden scored more than 3 against us. It could have been 6 or 7 but the same could be said to us – yes we could have scored 6 or 7 as well. We suffered from poor finishing whereas they benefitted from poor defending.

We came out of the blocks at the start of both halves. For 15 minutes of both we looked good and in charge. Our heads do appear to go down easy but the way that we conceded the goals must have infuriated anyone outside of our back four.

Baird was unbelievably amateur in the 2nd minute when he fell for the Midden offside ploy. All he had to do was to look and hold back. However I also thought that Calder could have fired in a shot also. Minutes later Calder misfired from a similar position.

And then we took a breath and Midden came back into the game. Warren mistimed. Mckay went on his back foot without a thought of a direct challenge. Where was Raven. They allow Morgan to run and run and shoot. Shure it deflect off McKay but that was there to be stopped by Ridgers. 31 minutes and we are behind when we could have been 2-0 up. Enuff said.

So lets move on to the second half and we start in 5th gear again. Polly misses an utter 1 on 1 sitter, Warren misses a very good headed opportunity and instead of being 4-0 up we are still 1-0 down.

Then we take on Bell for the “injured” but wholly ineffective Calder and his flick ends up with Baird equalising in the 61st minute. But it is 1-1 NOT 5-0 !! And then we blow it again. 3 mins later in the 64th. Trafford is turned 3 times, falls on his erse, we do not compete against the cross, Ridgers does not compete or focus and we are behind again to a gift.

But then we get a bit of luck on 69 minutes. Polly drifting offside is abetted by a ridiculous touch from a Midden defender and this time he nets the 1 on 1. So what do we do – we feckin give away another goal 4 mins later in the 73rd minute. Warren, Chalmers and McKay enact a scene from a Keystone Cops movie and Smith puts Midden ahead. Cue our heads going down and Midden smelling blood.

And it does not take them long to kill us off. 2 minutes in fact. In the 75th minute Raven falls over this time and the ball eventually is cracked in by the ex-Tink McShane.

Cue substitutes methinks. Completed by Midden but not by Robbo. Unbefeckinleivable Jeff. The game then petered up. Polworth looked shattered but so did Vigurs. One for effort and the other for not being feckin fit enuff.

Have to agree with a lot of what Robbo said after the game. It could have been so different but you do not win games with our frailties at the back. But his attempt at a 4-5-1 simply did not work. You simply cant have a defence like ours and starve it of cover. It looked like the ploy was to play Calder and Cooper in advanced positions to assist Baird. Vigurs to sit and be a lazy playmaker, Polly to have a free, roving role – leaving Trafford to try and sit in front of the defence. Robbo stated that he wanted to push Midden wide. Well that totally fecked us as they ran feckin riot. And the decision not to take on Treamrco and Oakley – Well.

And to end with – Willie Gollum was absolutely shocking and both sets of fans joined in to Anti-Gollum chants.

Match report written by IHE



Pld W D L F A +/- Pts
1. St. Mirren 5 4 0 1 14 8 6 12
2. Dunfermline 5 3 1 1 15 6 9 10
3. Queen of the South 5 3 1 1 12 6 6 10
4. Dundee Utd 5 3 1 1 5 5 0 10
5. Livingston 5 1 3 1 7 8 -1 6
6. Inverness CT 5 1 1 3 8 11 -3 4
7. Dumbarton 5 0 3 2 2 7 -5 3
8. Falkirk 5 0 2 3 5 12 -7 2
9. Brechin City 5 0 2 3 4 12 -8 2