St Mirren

Mark Jardine
Fan writer

Before launching into a bitter, emotional tirade about the integrity of decision-making in Scottish football and VAR as a philosophical concept, I think it's best that I'm up front about Saturday's result at Tannadice.

Like many Jim Goodwin-led performances before this one, the home side did enough to keep the three points in Dundee. Outstanding performances from Declan Gallagher, Kevin Holt and Will Ferry (among others) restricted the Saints to not much at all, and for the third time this season the United attack compounded that clean sheet with enough to secure the win.

The more colourful end of Tannadice St has much to be proud of this season. In a tight middle section of the Scottish Premiership, they are inarguably the standard setter as we enter December and there is no point in arguing with any of that. In many ways, they have picked up the Saints' mantle from last season and ran with that level of hard-fought consistency. The up and down nature of the Buddies' early season form has left that spot up for grabs, and Jim Goodwin's promoted side have mercilessly snatched it.

Saturday, however, could all have been so different. Fresh from setting Toyosi Olusanya free on the Aberdeen defence from about eighty yards away last week, Ellery Balcombe claimed an early United corner at full-stretch and once more sent the Buddies charging towards the far end of the pitch. What wasn't accounted for on this occasion was the on-rushing Jack Walton, sprinting from his goal and clearing out Olusanya at reasonable height.

I'm not saying Walton's challenge was the worst tackle you'll have seen this weekend, far from it, but I'd assume the taps on the home dressing room bath were already running and Walton's preferred rubber duck lifted off the shelf by the time Matthew MacDermid showed yellow.

This decision alone, denying the Saints a man advantage and disrupted opposition back line, would have been enough to fill the Saints forums and Facebook with misery - regardless of result and further upset. However, they needn't have worried for more material by the time the long journey home had begun.

Marcus Fraser might have thought penalty number one was harsh, and he may have had a point, but it is what it is. Where the real fury has simmered and boiled over into an appeal to the SFA is with penalty number two and subsequent red card.

MacDermid and VAR room aside, I don't know that many watching have concurred with the double whammy dished out to Fraser in the closing stages. A bit of mutual wrestling and admittedly poor defending somehow morphed into a straight red. If anyone else knows of a penalty given where a forward has only let go of his opponent's collar in order to fall over, please do write in and let me know.

Some Saints fans have taken all of the above (plus an unawarded penalty of our own) and leaned hard into the realms of conspiracy.

So, there we have it. Dundee United have a well-earned victory to enjoy and the Saints faithful have a full week of righteous anger to keep them busy. And, in a way, that feels like a balanced world. I'm sure all roles will be reversed before too long, such is Scottish football.

Mark Jardine can be found on the Misery Hunters podcast., external

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St Mirren will travel to face League One side Queen of the South in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup.

The tie will take place on the weekend of 18/19 January.

We asked for your views on St Mirren's defeat at Dundee United.

Here's what some of you had to say:

Jim: If you can't challenge for the ball in your own box, and it was a 50/50 challenge, then football as we remember it has gone. Two very dubious decisions have spoiled a very even game. Both sides lacked the killer blow and a well deserved draw would have been just about right. A lack of striking power must be a concern for the Saints staff.

Douglas: Well... was at Tannadice and I thought I had seen bad refereeing before but that has to be the lowest of the low and in the VAR studio just as bad. Jack Walton had to be sent off and the penalties awarded were not penalty kicks. Marcus Fraser's red card, never. Wasn't even a booking.

Ian: Frankly, very poor officiating and not a good advert for VAR. TV evidence confirms this opinion. A goalkeeper who should have been sent off and two very dubious penalties. St Mirren could be careless at times but deserved something from the game. The scoreline flattered United.

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• Dundee United have scored in each of their last five games in the Premiership, scoring eight goals in that run.

• St Mirren have failed to score in five of their 15 games, only Ross County (eight) have failed to score more often in the Premiership this season.

• Dundee United have kept a clean sheet in five of their 14 games, only Rangers (six) and Celtic (10) have done this more often in the Premiership this season.

• Dundee United have scored in their last five games in the Premiership, their longest scoring streak this season.

Kevin Holt scored a penalty opener - awarded after VAR intervention - then missed from the spot before Emmanuel Adegboyega poked in a second for Jim Goodwin's side in injury time.

Have your say on the game here., external

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St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson: “We've won games and got points when we've played a lot worse than that, let's put it like that. There were very good aspects of our play, but credit to Dundee United, you know, they defended when they needed to defend, they defended their box brilliantly well, I have to say. I thought Declan Gallagher was outstanding.

“We didn't have the quality we have had in recent weeks in the final third, for the bits that we can control, but the game changes on decisions as well. But we have to take chances and we have to be better with our creativity in the final third as well.

“Sometimes that happens. There was a lot of good stuff to like about it. When you win, everything isn't brilliant, when you lose, everything isn't woeful and you need throw everything out.

“There were a lot of good points, a lot of good performances. As I said, I think our end pass, our final decision was what it has been in recent weeks and that's the bits that we can control.

“We can't control two VAR reviews in the first half that go against us, and a VAR in the second half that goes for Dundee United. We can't control that. We can only control the bits that we work on and those bits that can be improved.

On Marcus Fraser’s red card, he adds:

“That's, yeah, I don't agree with that decision. I've seen that footage back. If that's a red card, then we're all in trouble for the game because there's minimal contact. It was debatable whether it was even a penalty.

“I think Dundee United didn't feel it was a penalty either. So to have a red card and now lose a player because of it, it's a hard one to take. But as I say, we're not in control of that. We're not in control of the referee's decisions or VAR decisions more to the point. We can control our final third decisions. We have to be a little bit more ruthless in that final third and that's the things we'll keep working on.”

Jack Herrall
BBC Sport Scotland

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This performance can still serve as encouragement for the visitors.

Robsin spoke pre-match about it being “refreshing” that he could name the same starting XI for back-to-back games and they benefitted early on.

They often had periods of sustained possession but failed to carve out any clear-cut chances of note, but they were well matched by a stubborn home rearguard.

Their final-third play often looked blunt in key stages however, with over 100 final third entries but only one shot on target to show for it.

They have now failed to score in 5 of their 15 top-flight games, only Ross County in eight games have failed to score more often.

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Dundee United defender Ross Graham is back in action but Jim Goodwin remains without Ross Docherty (calf), Craig Sibbald (groin) and Kristijan Trapanovski (hamstring).

St Mirren defenders Charles Dunne and Alex Iacovitti are still out with hamstring injuries.

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St Mirren captain Mark O'Hara played down the impact of the club's off-field issues this season, crediting the "experience" in the dressing room for navigating such a period.

The Buddies had three players leave in the space of a month following police charges.

Jaden Brown departed by mutual consent after admitting three driving offences, Kevin van Veen's loan spell was ended after the Dutch striker appeared in court charged with domestic abuse, and Shaun Rooney left after being charged with assault following an incident in a Glasgow takeaway.

Stephen Robinson's side only won once in 12 matches, but have taken 10 points from their last four outings.

"I think from looking from the outside, you'd be surprised at how little is affected," O'Hara said, when asked about the off-field issues. "We've got a strong, experienced squad and everyone is there for each other on and off the pitch.

"People from the outside would expect it to cause more disruption than it has. We're a very grounded group and as I say, we remain humble throughout it.

"Obviously there were questions at times from boys and things like that, but I didn't need to take any more leadership. The changing room manages itself and the manager was speaking to everyone throughout it as well.

"Nobody was panicking, nobody was shocked, we were all together and not much had to change.

"I think when you look from the outside and results haven't gone our way, there's been a few distractions, people would have thought we were in a worse way. But we were confident and experience is a big part of that.

"We trust each other and trust the staff and I think that’s why we've got to where we are now."

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson has revealed that his father found an unexploded terrorist bomb meant for a different target under their car after his family had travelled in it before the 49-year-old moved from Northern Ireland. (Scottish Sun One On One), external

Read Friday's Scottish Gossip in full.

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• Dundee United's Jim Goodwin, who took charge of 93 Scottish Premiership matches with St Mirren from 2019 to 2022 (W25 D31 L37), has only lost one of his five league games against the Buddies (W2 D2) since leaving the club, going down 3-1 with Aberdeen in December 2022.

• St Mirren have won their last two league games and could win three in a row for the first time since August 2022 – a run that including an away win over Dundee United (3-0).

• Dundee United have won three of their last five home games in the Scottish Premiership (L2), more than their previous 10 beforehand (W2 D2 L6).

• St Mirren have won three of their last four league visits to Dundee United (D1), this after losing their previous four top-flight away games against them beforehand.

• After their 1-0 win in October, Dundee United are looking to pick up back-to-back Scottish Premiership victories over St Mirren for the first time since November 2014 (3 in a row).

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St Mirren goalkeeper Peter Urminsky has signed a contract extension keeping him in Paisley until 2027.

The Slovakian shot-stopper joined the Saints in 2020 and has made four first team appearances.

The 25-year-old has also spent time on loan with Ayr United and Stenhousemuir.

"We believe Peter is a really good young goalkeeper," manager Stephen Robinson told club media, external.

"Our challenge now is that we need to get him experience. He's pushed Ellery [Balcombe] all the way this season and now we're looking to get him game time, whether that's in our first-team or a loan option, because we believe at the start of next season he's a real viable option of being our number one.

"We want to develop him but we also feel he is very close to being a first-team starter. We believe he's got a big future in the game.

"Peter's confidence has grown naturally as he's trained with the first-team and we believe he has all the attributes to be a top class goalkeeper."

Craig Devine
Fan writer

What do City of Culture bids, trains bound for Canal Street station and Aberdeen Football Club's unbeaten league run have in common? They all come to an end in Paisley.

Saturday's 2-1 win over the Dons saw St Mirren at their best, largely nullifying an Aberdeen side who have won many plaudits this season through typical Stephen Robinson era hard work, vigorous pressing and some nice passages of play.

Sometimes, however, it's the very simplest of route-one efforts that can produce the goods, with the opener coming through Toyosi Olusanya muscling his way between the defence to latch on to Ellery Balcombe's missile up the park.

Saints were buoyant going in a goal up at the break, but the story could have played out differently if we didn't have VAR available to spare the blushes of referee John Beaton - just what on earth did he see that led him to believe Alex Gogic's perfectly-timed intervention warranted a straight red card?

Fortunately, the replay led to the red being downgraded to a yellow. If you asked me whether a booking was even warranted, or if it was just an attempt to save face... if I speak, I'm in big trouble.

Aberdeen's changes at the break certainly brought them back into the game, but even after Jamie McGrath’s leveller St Mirren weren't to be deterred.

The winner came courtesy of Richard Taylor rising about a mile above every other player on the park to head home his first goal in the stripes. Full-time, three points in the bag and the Saints are firmly back, baby.

News broke during the week that Taylor - an absolute gem of a find - is considered unlikely to sign a new contract to remain at the club beyond the end of the campaign.

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Taylor will go on to greater heights, but with less than a month until the big man is due to come down the chimney, here's hoping we'll see an early Christmas present.

Craig Devine can be found at Misery Hunters, external

Jonathan Sutherland
Sportscene presenter

Richard Taylor delivered one of the moments of the season so far, climbing highest to grab the goal that consigned Aberdeen to their first Premiership defeat under Jimmy Thelin.

Watch Sportscene analysis of St Mirren's 2-1 win against Aberdeen.

Watch highlights as St Mirren win 2-1 against Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership.

We asked for your views on St Mirren's 2-1 win against Aberdeen.

Here's what some of you said:

Stevie: I thought Saints were to a man terrific. Work rate was exceptional. The manager and staff work so hard to install that work ethic and the players epitomise that. They had to do it for 96 minutes against the best Dons side we have seen in years. Well done Saints.

Sean: One of our most complete performances of the season. First half was a joy to behold, we harried Aberdeen relentlessly and should have been cruising by a few goals. As expected Aberdeen came out fast second half but we weathered the storm and got what we deserved. Alex Gogic, Richard Taylor, Greg Kiltie and Conor McMenamin were immense, a thoroughly deserved win.

Douglas: The three VAR decisions went our way but the initial red card for Gogic would have been a game changer, the correct use of VAR turned that decision over. We pressed them from the start and made it very difficult for their backs. Toyosi Olusanya especially made life uncomfortable for their defenders, his goal typified his strengths, speed and alertness.

Pedro: It was only a matter of time before the Dons' extraordinary run of luck came to an end! Watch them lose the next 12 now.

Eric: That was a tactical masterclass by Stephen Robinson. We dominated the first half. When Aberdeen changed personnel in the second half and drew level, he changed to compensate and got the victory St Mirren deserved. Great job Robinson.

John: Thoroughly deserved three points in difficult conditions. Aberdeen have had a marvellous start to the season and were deservedly joint top, but I just felt we had enough to match them in the game. So it turned out. Let's not talk about the officiating.

Alistair: That was worth the wait, a huge thank you to the people who managed to get down to the ground and helped the staff clear the pitch. The game was a brilliant advert for Scottish football and we were worthy of the three points, Scott Tanser runs down the wing for us.

Douglas: I was at the match and thought Saints man for man put in a wonderful display. They gave up most of the possession but looked really switched on with their high pressing game. Two great goals and didn't panic when Aberdeen got the equaliser. Robinson must be so proud of his players.

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• St Mirren are undefeated in their last four games in the Premiership, their last longer unbeaten streak was from 6th August 2023 to 30th September 2023, a run of seven games.

• Aberdeen attempted 599 passes in this game, their highest total in a single match in the Premiership this season.

• Toyosi Olusanya has scored five goals in the Premiership this season (one in this game), more than any other St Mirren player.

• Aberdeen have scored in their last 17 games in the Premiership, their longest run of games with a goal in the competition (since at least 2024/2025).

Aberdeen's unbeaten Scottish Premiership record ended in Paisley as Richard Taylor's towering header earned St Mirren all three points.

It is a first league loss in 12 games for Jimmy Thelin's side, who stay second but could lose ground on Celtic when they visit Hearts later. Rangers also move a point closer, and are now eight points back in third.

St Mirren, too, had been on an unbeaten run - three games before the international break - and raced out of the blocks against their high-flying opponents.

Toyosi Olusanya got in behind the Aberdeen defence from a long punt forward by goalkeeper Ellery Balcombe and kept his cool to slide low past Dimitar Mitov.

The home side were briefly reduced to 10 men when referee John Beaton sent off Alex Gogic for a heavy sliding tackle on Shayden Morris, but after VAR advised Beaton to review the incident, he downgraded it to a yellow card.

Aberdeen manager Jimmy Thelin showed his dissatisfaction with a double change at half-time, bringing on Duk and Kevin Nisbet, and it sparked his side into life.

Duk posed problems down the left, and his cross eventually dropped to Jamie McGrath, who swept home to level the scores.

However, St Mirren stood firm, weathered the storm and slowly turned the tide.

Conor McMenamin had a shot well saved by Mitov, Olusanya fired just wide, but on 83 minutes, Taylor found the back of the net from Mark O'Hara's corner.

Duk hit a post with an audacious backheel soon after, but Aberdeen could not find a second equaliser.

St Mirren fans, were you at the ground or following along from home? Either way, we want your thoughts.

Have your say on the game., external

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Toyosi Olusanya (left) was magnificent for St Mirren in their 2-1 win over Aberdeen.

The forward took his goal calmly, led the Paisley side's pressing and was a threat in behind with his pace.

That's five league goals for the season now.