By Kyle Gunn
Jim Goodwin has admitted that his St Mirren side could have played late into Saturday night and they still wouldn’t have scored as they lost at home against Dundee.
Scotland under-21 midfielder Max Anderson, who was sent off in the previous meeting between the teams this season, a 2-2 draw on the opening day of the campaign, scored the only goal of the game inside the first quarter of an hour.
Saints had the majority of possession and more chances but didn’t test Dundee goalkeeper Adam Legzdins anywhere near enough to warrant getting anything out of the game.
There were also a couple of penalty appeals for the hosts in the second half, for incidents involving Eamonn Brophy and Joe Shaughnessy, but neither were given by referee John Beaton.
But former midfielder Goodwin, who visibly wasn’t happy with some of the decisions during the game on the sidelines, was not in the mood for blaming the officials for his Buddies’ shortcomings at full time.
He knew exactly what was missing from his team’s game.
The Paisley boss told Express Sport: “They got six or eight behind the ball and we didn’t create enough clear cut chances. We could still be playing now and we’d still be finding it hard to put the ball in the net.
“We need to dust ourselves down and go again. We can’t blame the ref for the result.”
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The Irishman offered the fact that Saints put so much into the second half of Wednesday night’s draw with Motherwell and the first 25 minutes against Rangers in the last week, as a reason but not an excuse, for his team’s lethargic performance.
He also conceded that the first goal was going to be crucial and that once the strike went the way of James McPake’s men, it was always going to be difficult to get back into the game, which certainly won’t be remembered as a classic by the home supporters.
Former Alloa gaffer Goodwin is keen to put the defeat down to a one-off performance below Saints’ usual recent standards and move on quickly.
But the Scottish Premiership assignments don’t get any easier with the Buddies facing a trip to Perth on Saturday afternoon to take on Callum Davidson‘s cup double winning St Johnstone.
And the St Mirren boss is looking to get back to winning ways as quickly as possible.
Goodwin continued: “One or two were a little below par. Maybe the third game in seven days, without looking for excuses. But we didn’t reach the levels we did against Motherwell or the opening 25 minutes against Rangers.
“In fairness we tried but we didn’t put enough quality in the box or get behind Dundee enough. It was one of those afternoons.
“We knew the first goal in a game like this would be massive and if Dundee got it they’d shut up shop and they ran the clock down from the moment they got the goal.”
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