BetFred Cup: Spartans hold Stubbs’ Premiership Saints to draw

Posted on Wednesday, July 18th, 2018

Spartans may secured a point for their monumental efforts in Paisley however it was the plaudits earned that will be remembered as the Ainslie Park side didn’t read Alan Stubbs’ St Mirren home debut script to hold the Premiership outfit to a 2-2 draw in the BetFred Cup.

After a enterprising encounter against Championship 1 side Dumbarton at the weekend, Spartans stand-in Gaffer Derek Riddel rung the changes as the part-time side face four gruelling games versus League teams in a narrow window.

The late Paisley sunshine was beating down as kick-off arrived and it wasn’t just the golden globe that made the home support cover their eyes after just six minutes when Spartans took the lead despite the remonstrations of the Buddies defenders.  Jason Stevens and Jack Smith combined on the edge of the Saints’ 18 yard box and when the Lino flagged, the defence stopped before Stevens bulged the onion bag with gusto. Frustration turned to elation following a discussion between Referee Alan Newlands and his Assistant which saw the Referee point to the centre circle.

With the half time oranges being sliced, Kellerman headed narrowly wide for St Mirren who were keen not to incur the wrath of the former Hibs Manager in his first break time address in the sheds.

Alas, whatever was said didn’t do the trick right away as it was Spartans who extraordinarily extended their lead.

A rush of blood to the head of goalie Rogers saw the Saint turn Sinner as he raced off his line to clear a Jack Smith through-ball, only to see Scott Maxwell knock it back over his head into an unguarded net to make it two.

The comeback did begin and it was with Stephen McGinn who came on as a replacement on the hour mark.  He made an instant impact when he finished off neatly from a Jeff King corner.

However, with just a quarter of an hour to play out, Saints were offered a chance to save their blushes and earn a share of the spoils when Michael Herd was adjudged to have fouled Ryan Flynn.  Up stepped Danny Mullen who slotted to make it 2-2.

If you will, engage your imagination for a moment as St Mirren reminded one of the Big Bad Wolf in that old fable ‘The Three Little Pigs”.  As much as they huffed and puffed to try and blow the Spartans house in, gatekeeper Blair Carswell looked to turn fable to fairytale by pulling off a suite of superb saves to deny the Saints and arguably securing his side’s best ever result over ninety minutes.

Full Time: St Mirren 2-2 The Spartans

The lottery of penalty kicks to decide the bonus point saw St Mirren do enough to make it two spot-kick successes in as many competition outings.

Spartans XI: Carswell, Cennerazzo, Brown, Tolmie, Corbett, Herd, Smith (Girdwood 77), McFarland, Greenhill, Maxwell (Bremner 61), Stevens (Atkinson 71).  Bench: Stevenson, Atkinson, Dawson, Dishington, Costello.