REHABILITATION and redemption arrived in a number of forms for St Mirren on Saturday. There was a first away goal of a frustrating season for Danny Mullen, the strike serving to silence the jeering Livingston fans who used to worship him as a player there.
There was a first competitive appearance in four months for Kyle Magennis, whose second-half cameo from the bench provided the spark needed to send St Mirren on their way to a precious victory in their battle against relegation.
And there was finally another goal to savour for Simeon Jackson, the forward banishing the memories of his failed Panenka penalty attempt against St Johnstone last month that had brought him such derision.
The Canadian is a predatory centre-forward who comes alive in the six-yard box and his gamble here to follow in Kyle McAllister’s shot paid off when it was spilled into his path by Livingston goalkeeper Liam Kelly. Having been so derided that night for his penalty at McDiarmid Park this was a sweet moment for Jackson to enjoy.
“Was this important for me after the penalty miss? Yeah, definitely,” he said. “I am always trying to get in the right areas to score. I follow them in 10 times and you only get one. But I will keep doing it. We will keep going and keep going and that’s going to be important for us in last couple of games.
“It’s just really good to know as a player that the fans are behind you and coming out singing your name and backing you. It’s definitely good to have that because I might not have had that at other clubs.”
St Mirren seem to be building some momentum at just the right time. Manager Oran Kearney had taken the gamble of making wholesale changes to the squad in January and finally they are starting to play like a cohesive unit. They have four games remaining to close the two-point gap to Hamilton Accies to secure their Ladbrokes Premiership status without the need for a play-off.
“It’s just taken time for everyone to bed in and get used to each other,” explained Jackson. “It was about finding a way of playing with each other to get results and doing what the manager has been asking of us.
“We’ve always been chasing Hamilton down. Nothing changes, we are still trying to catch them and that win has definitely helped us.”
The bottom half of the Premiership table is itself split in two, with three teams with relatively little to play for while the other three scramble around for points.
Livingston lost Craig Halkett to an early red card on Saturday before opening the scoring through Scott Robinson, but Paul McGinn equalised shortly afterwards and Mullen and Jackson struck late on.
However, Livi are among the fortunate trio who secured their top-flight status some time ago and Kelly insisted there was no possibility of them downing tools with four games still to play.
“We want to finish seventh,” said the former Rangers keeper. “The target is there so we’ll be trying to win every game. The boys don’t try any more or less from week to week, it’s maximum effort every time we step out there and that attitude won’t change until the end of the season.
“We want win bonuses, we want money in our pocket and the higher up we finish in the league the more money it earns for the club. So we’ll give our all in every game and hopefully finish as high up the league as possible.
“We always knew this was going to be a hard game with St Mirren having a lot to play for. I thought we did alright, we scored a great goal ourselves and tried our hardest.”
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