Costly mistake comes back to bite Buddies
No matter how well you’re playing, one simple error can be so costly in the Premiership.
Unfortunately for Saints, they found that out the hard way on Tuesday night as, after an impressive opening 30 minutes, all their good work was quickly undone by one simple mistake.
St Mirren had been absolutely dominant against Jack Ross’ Hibs, with the Edinburgh side hardly stringing a pass together in Paisley in the opening half an hour.
The Buddies were in total control, passing and probing well, with Jim Goodwin’s side looking the much likelier to open the scoring.
That’s what made Jake Doyle-Hayes’ woeful backpass even more difficult to stomach.
In one fell swoop, all of St Mirren’s dominance counted for nothing as Jak Alnwick unsurprisingly lost a foot race with pacey winger Martin Boyle and picked up a red card for his troubles.
Whether Alnwick should have brought the Hibs forward down is up for debate, but he should never have been put in the position by a simple pass back to the goalkeeper.
The Saints had a mountain to climb to come away with anything, playing for so long with ten men, but, in fairness, they did come mighty close thanks to Jon Obika’s fine finish after another impressive run by speed king Dylan Connolly.
The fact Goodwin’s men matched Hibs pretty well, despite being one man down bodes very well for the Paisley side, with Hibs currently sitting in third, but not looking any better an outfit than the hosts at the SMISA Stadium for large periods of Tuesday night’s clash.
Selection shake-ups will be big feature of fixture pile-up
With St Mirren facing eight games in just four weeks, selection headaches will certainly play a big part in this month’s run of fixtures.
Having made four changes for Saturday’s historic win against Celtic, Goodwin decided to make the same number again as he seeks to keep his side fresh ahead of their hectic next seven matches.
While mixing up the team can cause problems with cohesion, Tuesday night’s loss was nothing to do with the amount of changes the manager made from that victory over the Hoops.
Ryan Flynn came back into the starting XI and was cruising the game on his first outing back in Paisley since returning from his knee injury, skipping past Hibs players with ease and breaking up attacks whenever he could.
Eamonn Brophy returned and was a constant menace up front, pressing hard and making some excellent runs that were frustratingly often missed by his teammates.
Richard Tait slotted back in at left-back and looked comfortable, with only the return of Jake Doyle-Hayes surprisingly going against the Saints due to his costly mistake.
The truth is the changes were working a treat before that one lapse in concentration, and Goodwin will likely be mixing up his side again for the visit of Kilmarnock this weekend before facing Celtic again next Wednesday.
It’s going to be a big challenge for Goodwin this month to ensure he fields both his strongest team, while also protecting the players from overplaying and picking up injuries.
Consistency is the next target
To say this Premiership season has been a rollercoaster for St Mirren would be one hell of an understatement.
Both on and off the pitch, it’s been an absolute blockbuster of a campaign, and we’re only just rolling into February.
So far, the Saints have had a covid-induced six-game winless Premiership run, while also enjoying an incredible 11-match unbeaten run that included beating Rangers 3-2.
They’ve lost a League Cup semi-final against Livingston without hardly laying a glove on the Lions, and also put in all-round performances against Dundee United and Celtic to seal historic 5-1 and 2-1 victories respectively.
With coronavirus ensuring this season was never going to be straightforward, perhaps it was inevitable consistency was always going to be a difficult characteristic to nail down.
The youthful average age of this St Mirren side also means dips in form are to be expected, especially when the pressure is at a peak.
With so many games coming up this month, two of which are in hand on their nearest rivals for the top six spot they currently hold, finding some consistency over the next few weeks could be the key to ensuring they head into March with a firm grasp of a top half position.
