IT was all going so well for St Mirren when a moment of madness knocked the Saints off their stride and the Staggies into theirs.
They had been playing for an hour in Paisley with the Buddies holding off the advances of their guests, when Joe Shaugnessy flew into Ross Stewart on the halfway line. Despite the cries from the Ross County bench, that, as far as Mike Roncone was concerned, was that, the referee waving the Saints on.
That wasn’t that, however, as far as the visitors and, crucially, fourth official Willie Collum were concerned. The Staggies stormed towards Stewart, forcing Roncone to blow his whistle.
Tempers flared and in the midst of all this madness Collum whispered a word into Roncone’s ear and suddenly the red card was out for the defender, whose puzzlement was matched by only that of his manager.
It only took Ross County ten minutes to make the most of the decision, Nathan Sheron’s messy own-goal dragging the Staggies back into a game Jon Obika’s first-half strike looked to have put beyond them.
On the surface, Goodwin and Stuart Kettlewell seem entirely different, charismatic characters. The latter knowingly so, who you could imagine approaching a holiday on a beautiful Greek island with the same enthusiasm as the Manchester United team. Goodwin, you feel, would be more at home with a pint of bitter from his local.
Regardless, it would be hard for St Mirren not to be well organised given the excellence of Goodwin, who is not only improving his reputation week-by-week but has the added bonus of sounding even more threatening than Liam Nesson did to those fellas who nabbed his daughter.
Whenever Sam Foley needed encouragement to press or his team tired in the last frantic minutes, there was the Irishman to remind them in the strongest of terms of what he wanted.
His players stuck to their task, hounding Ross County from the first minute and, aptly, the Staggies were like a deer caught in the headlights whenever the imposing Obika or Junior Morias hit the accelerator. Importantly for the hosts, they held on despite the late pressure of the visitors.
The Saints’ approach paid dividends just 15 minutes in when Obika swivelled superbly in the box to slot beyond Ross Laidlaw. That doesn’t really tell the full story of a goal born out of Kyle McAllister’s impressive run from wide or the fortunate flick from a County man into the forward’s path, but the home side deserved the lead all the same.
McAllister was at the heart of things for St Mirren in the first half, the winger jinking past young Josh Reid to force Laidlaw into action one minute and slotting a perfect ball in Morias’ path the next. The County keeper again denied the Buddies on that occasion.
County, so slick against Hamilton just two weeks ago, struggled to find their usual rhythm but did chip away with increasing thrust at St Mirren’s rearguard. The best they could muster before the break was a Ross Stewart header against the bar.
The away side were much better in the second-half, Kettlewell’s changes at the break breathing new life into his team. Laidlaw still had to deny Morias with a flying save, but the Staggies strolled forward with so much more attacking intent, Richard Tait acrobatically clearing off the line to deny County.
With Gardyne impressing and the hosts retreating, they might well have found an equaliser of their own doing. Then the madness ensued, a tired, frantic St Mirren struggled to get to grips with their sudden man disadvantage, and the Staggies forced home the goal they deserved.
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