St Mirren

We asked for your views on St Mirren's 2-2 draw with Hearts in which Miguel Freckleton's second goal was controversially ruled out.

Here's what some of you said:

Scott: Robbed by VAR, yet again. Quality of refereeing is hitting an all-time low.

Douglas S: Scottish referees are now a major concern. Saints have been cheated in their last three games. I believe the referee in Paisley was under pressure from Willie Collum to improve his decision-making. Well after that he should be hauled in and told he is sacked. He was even hugging Cammy Devlin of Hearts at the final whistle.

Tom: Another game, another dodgy VAR, becoming a common theme, whatever happened to the "things will even themselves up over the season" logic?

Douglas M: Firstly, let's concentrate on the positives, this was a cracking game which was a great advert for the Scottish game. In terms of the negatives, the game was ultimately decided on VAR decisions. It would be easy to develop a negative complex if you support the Saints.

Alistair: A great game totally ruined by officials, why our third goal was disallowed is baffling. It appears that when a goal is scored they look for any reason for it not to stand and the experience at the ground is ruined but we'll be back on Saturday, in hope more than anything else.

Stuart: What a fantastic game. You can see Hearts have improved, but we more than matched them. While Hearts were probably the best team for the first and last 15 minutes, we were the best team outwith that. The goal we had chopped off for 3-1 was just another example of VAR ruining football for a decision that deprived us of three points. Great advert for Scottish football and looking forward to the semi-final on Saturday now.

Watch the highlights as St Mirren and Hearts each take a point from their midweek Scottish Premiership encounter (UK only).

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St Mirren assistant coach Brian Kerr: "We feel a wee bit hard done by with the decision [to rule out the goal to make it 3-1].

"We're still looking back to see why it's been disallowed. We can't find any contact at all. There might be an angle that shows that, but we're yet to find it.

"It was a massive moment in the game to go 3-1 up at that time. It was a decision that's gone against us and we feel a bit hard done by.

"These boys in here don't know how to give up. That's why they've managed to achieve what they've achieved. They believe here they can beat anyone in the league.

"Come Saturday these boys will be ready to go again."

Hearts twice came from behind and had a potential late winner disallowed as their Scottish Premiership lead was cut to six points after an enthralling draw at St Mirren.

Have your say on the game here.

Read our match report here.

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Hearts "have to win" fixtures like Wednesday's Scottish Premiership trip to St Mirren, says former manager Robbie Neilson.

Derek McInnes' side lead the division by eight points following Sunday's home win over Celtic.

"These are the games that dictate whether you can go and challenge and win a title," Neilson told the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast.

"The game at the weekend there, they kind of take care of themselves because of the build-up and everyone's ready for it. It's a massive game.

"When you go away, especially to St Mirren, which is a very, very difficult place to be to go and play, I think these are the games that tells you where you are as a team, because St Mirren will be up for it.

"They'll be looking at it. League leaders come into town, a chance to turn them over. Hearts have to go there and win these games, and that's it."

Stephen Robinson's St Mirren have lost their past three games but did knock Hearts out of the Premier Sports Cup in August.

"Expectations are so high nowadays, and especially in Scottish football with St Mirren," added Neilson.

"We kind of expect them to be top six because Stephen's done such a fantastic job, but they're having a little bit of a dip, they're not scoring as many goals, but they're still pretty defensively strong.

"They've got a good squad and they've got a very, very good manager, so I would expect them to pick back up again, but the teams that you've got in that top six, there's always really only one or two spaces left for the so-called not top teams within the league."

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• After their 2-1 victory last September, St Mirren are looking to earn back-to-back home wins over Hearts in the top flight for the first time since February 2013.

• Hearts have won four of their past six league games against St Mirren (D1 L1), including the latest two in a row. Hearts last defeated the Buddies three times in a row in the Scottish Premiership in February 2022.

• St Mirren lost their last home league game 1-0 to Aberdeen, ending their eight-game unbeaten run on home soil in the Scottish Premiership (W4 D4).

• Hearts have won their past six away games in the Premiership, including all four this season. The last non-Old Firm club (Celtic/Rangers) to win seven in a row on the road in the competition were Aberdeen in August 2017.

• Lawrence Shankland has scored (four) or assisted (one) five goals in his last seven Premiership appearances against St Mirren, netting in two of his last four at the SMISA Stadium.

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St Mirren are without the suspended Jayden Richardson and Alex Gogic.

Christian Borchgrevink and Frankie Kent both have a chance of being in the Hearts squad for the first time since August but Ryan Fulton (groin) and Finlay Pollock (hamstring) are still missing.

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Stephen Robinson is confident St Mirren's results "will turn if the performance levels" are maintained as they prepare to host Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts on Wednesday.

The Buddies manager was left frustrated after the 3-1 defeat away to Dundee United at the weekend, when defender Alex Gogic was sent off for a late tackle on Nikolaj Moller to concede a converted penalty.

It was a third successive defeat following losses to Aberdeen and Kilmarnock and leaves the Paisley side, who finished sixth last season, ninth in the table, 16 points behind Hearts.

"I hate losing football matches, but I never use excuses," Robinson told St Mirren's official X account. "Even with the officials' decisions, it was still in our own hands.

"We can't rely on the officials, which has been shown in the last three-and-a-half years, but we have to be better at that end product, that final action.

"We are just not hitting the target often enough, even though we are getting in brilliant areas - our build-up play is excellent.

"Results usually come when the performances are there. If the performance levels maintain then it will turn, 100%.

"We have another tough game on Wednesday night, but I am confident in this group of players that it will.

"We need to go again. They [the players] are doing everything in their power to win games. They are outworking teams and it is just not going our way at the moment."

Mark Jardine
Fan writer

Since mankind first rubbed sticks together and discovered video-assisted refereeing, furious criticism has raged through social media, pub conversation and weekly fitba columns alike.

For a change, I'm not going to yell into that particular abyss.

I appreciate that a late red card and penalty review generates debate and disbelief, as does a marginal handball call on the edge of the penalty area.

However, I think, in the cold light of day (multiple replays on X, iPlayer and elsewhere), it is now essential to accept Alex Gogic was out of control in his challenge on Nikolaj Moller and complaints to the contrary have very limited grounds.

The Cypriot stalwart is not some maniacal hatchet-man, hell-bent on disrupting both opponents' possession and their shinguards. There is no element of his challenge on Saturday that suggests such behaviour. Clumsy, yes. Dangerous, I believe so. But deliberate? Not even close.

If sticking your foot into open space results in 14 high-definition angles of your studs coming down upon an opponent's standing leg, well, you'll be needing the Lincoln Lawyer to find a route to innocence.

The Shamal George handball incident, leading to United's free-kick equaliser, is a more bitter pill to swallow. However, I think this discomfort comes down to poor process and inconclusivity as opposed to some unfathomable refereeing error.

From angles available post-incident, it would appear the ball is at least partially on the 18-yard line when George lays gloved hands upon pleather.

It is perfectly reasonable to argue the Wycombe loanee has his hands outside of the box in order to make this contact, or that he initially makes said contact marginally before ball is over line.

However, I don't see how you make either of those cases with such a degree of certainty that it should prove decisive in key match incidents.

As, by the nature of the incident, a penalty is not an awardable outcome, a red card would require to be shown in order for VAR to become involved.

Again, as this is not the recommended punishment for such an incident, no such outcome is awardable. The on-field decision must stand. Questioning quite how that decision was made definitively is perhaps a more reasonable path to follow.

This leaves us with George booked and United lining up a direct shot on goal from as close to 18 yards away as you can get and still claim that a foul happened outside of the box.

The Saints keeper should perhaps start from a wider position and give himself the chance to stop Zac Sapsford's excellent strike, but the overwhelming feeling is the situation need never have arisen.

So, there you have it. A raging Saints fan arguing in defence of a painful VAR outcome and also wondering if a little bit more VAR might have been sensible. This is what I have become.

Mark Jardine can be found at Misery Hunters, external

Watch Sportscene analysis of St Mirren's recent poor form and the prospect of missing Alex Gogic for upcoming games.

Watch highlights as Dundee United win 3-1 against St Mirren in the Scottish Premiership.

We asked for your views on St Mirren's 3-1 defeat against Dundee United.

Here's what some of you said:

William: Simply not good enough. Can talk about shots on target but the reality is that our strikers are just not good enough, the manager should have done something about that in the summer but he failed to do so. We are where we are for that reason.

Alan: Once again we have so much of the ball but again fail to take advantage of the situation. But also again just like last week, VAR interferes and comes up with wrong decisions. This has to end as we are getting done over too many times.

William: How could VAR not see that Shamal George picked up on the line, it is not a free kick! This wrong decision changed the game. As for the red card, it was exceptionally harsh. The boss commented on the number of shots at goal and it's obvious we need to do a lot better. This game should have been won and we'd be sitting third top and not third bottom.

Kevin: Dominated most of the game but lack of clinical finishing in front of goal is costing us. VAR intervention for the second week in a row re-refereeing the match is killing the game. What happened to the criteria of clear and obvious errors?

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson tells BBC Sportsound: "It's a real disappointment. We dominate large parts of the game with 25 shots with [ three ] on target, which has been a common theme for us, unfortunately.

"Decisions change the game, rightly or wrongly. I've seen footage of the first one [when Shamal George was penalised for picking up outside his box], and it's clearly on the line when he picks it up, so it's not a free-kick.

"I haven't seen an angle from behind the goal for the [Dundee United] penalty, but the decisions change the complexion of the game. The parts we can control are that we have 25 shots away from home, 13 corners, play incredibly well, and we only hit the target three times.

"That's onus, that's on me, that's on the players, we have to be better and we'll do our best to change that."

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It was quit the dramatic finish at Tannadice as Dundee United left it late against 10-man St Mirren, but what did you think?

Match report can be read here.

Have your say on the match here.

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Dundee United remain without Ross Graham and Max Watters (both hamstring) while Owen Stirton is working his way back from an ankle problem. Isaac Pappoe (knee) is a long-term absentee.

St Mirren are without the suspended Jayden Richardson while strikers Jonah Ayunga and Mikael Mandron are both struggling with knee problems.

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St Mirren striker Dan Nlundulu is hoping to use his time in Paisley to launch himself back into the English Premier League.

The 26-year-old, who joined Stephen Robinson's side from Bolton on deadline day, made 13 appearances off the bench for Southampton during their 2021-22 season in the top flight.

Nlundulu was given his first St Mirren start in their 1-0 defeat against Aberdeen last weekend and could be in line for another in Saturday's game at Dundee United with Mikael Mandron and Jonah Ayunga both struggling with injuries.

"The gaffer's standards are really high," he said.

"The way he coaches me personally I find it really beneficial so I'm feeling really positive about this season and what I can do and what he can bring out of me.

"It's a very good league with some big teams in it so it's a good opportunity for me to get my name back out there, score some goals and see what happens.

"My time at Southampton is a long time ago but it was a great experience. I owe them everything for who I am today really because I was there for 13 years. It's the best time of my life.

"One day I'd like to go back to that level, so it starts here. If I keep the standards up, listen to the manager, the information that I'm given, and hopefully through my potential I go back to that kind of level."

Assistant manager Brian Kerr backed Nlundulu to step up if Ayunga and Mandron do not make the Tannadice clash.

"Both are touch and go," Kerr said. "Dan wants to be playing and if he's given the responsibility, he'll need to step up and be counted.

"Dan's just getting up to a stage with fitness and we know he's a wee bit behind with a lack of games. The more games Dan plays, the more everybody will see what he really has to offer.

"We know we've got a really excellent player there who previously has been signed for a lot of money, who has been at Bolton and a top league down south and a top side.

"So we know we've got a player with real assets. We just want to get the best out of him and being on the pitch over the next few weeks I'm sure we'll get the best out of Dan."

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• St Mirren (60% - 3/5) and Dundee United (43% - 6/14) are the top two sides for percentage of their Scottish Premiership goals this season coming from set-pieces (excluding penalties).

• St Mirren have lost their past two league games – as many as their previous 15 beforehand (W6 D7) – but haven't lost more in a row since January last season (4).

• While only Hearts (19) have scored more Premiership goals this season than Dundee United (14), only Livingston (18) and Falkirk (14) have conceded more than Jim Goodwin's side (13).

• St Mirren have won four and lost just one of their past six Premiership visits to Tannadice (D1), with their only defeat coming in November 2024 (2-0).

• After winning their first three league meetings with St Mirren last season all without conceding, Dundee United lost their latest against the Buddies 2-0 in May.

Mark Jardine
Fan writer

I'm a somewhat philosophical fitba fan, I try not to get too wound up by the bad stuff and wholeheartedly seek to make the absolute most of the good bits. I can't imagine any other way to rationally function as a St Mirren fan.

Saturday's last-minute gut punch of a defeat to Aberdeen was painful, there's no hiding that. However, I'm willing to attribute this misfortune to some high stakes universal balancing act.

Aberdeen FC have been the source of much joy in our recent past. Toyosi Olusanya's 97th-minute winner in 2024, cup finals and promotions aside, is probably the most I've celebrated anything within the confines of a football stadium.

Our 3-0 Pittodrie drubbing the previous December, courtesy of Mark O'Hara, Jonah Ayunga and Greg Kiltie, made that frosty pre-Hogmanay trip worth the effort. We've repeated each of those scorelines again since, all against richly-budgeted sides that on paper should be putting us in our place.

I've had more fun at the Dons' expense these past few years than could have been hoped for, never mind expected.

With all of this "get it round yeez, haha" credit resting in our collective accounts, there was bound to be a course correction at some point.

And, if you're going to take a sore one, I'll begrudgingly accept it arriving courtesy of a 96th-minute Berbatov-esque turn and strike that arrived in Scotland via AC Milan.

There are grounds for tough self-examination at Ralston this week; a needless and petulant red card, unnecessary proximity to a goalkeeper saving Dimitar Mitov's blushes, losing your man deep in injury time and an arguable lack of common sense in allowing that 96th-minute break in the first place.

However, there are 90-odd minutes of decent performance in there to reflect on too, and cause for cautious optimism on the road to Tannadice next weekend.

Mark Jardine can be found at Misery Hunters, external

Watch the Sportscene panel discuss Alex Gogic's disallowed goal in their 1-0 defeat to Aberdeen.

Watch the highlights as Aberdeen overcome 10-man St Mirren in the Scottish Premiership

We asked for your thoughts after St Mirren's 1-0 defeat to Aberdeen.

Here's a taste of what you had to say:

John: Undoubtedly, there must be question marks about St Mirren's game management in those last few minutes but that doesn't mitigate the shocking officiating throughout the 90 minutes and the cynical approach from Jimmy Thelin's team.

William: Saints lost their chance to climb the table by squandered chances.

Douglas: Saints were cheated out of three points. Alex Gogic's goal should have stood. The ref gave the goal, no flag from the linesman but VAR disallowed it for offside, why?