St Mirren’s unbeaten home run against Aberdeen continued as goals from Toyosi Olusanya and Richard Taylor sealed a huge victory for the home side. Thomas Harper reports.
Even though Aberdeen are riding high just at the summit of the Scottish Premiership, you could bet it would be safe to say that the Dons were looking to end their hoodoo in Paisley, their last win there was in December 2018, where Stevie May and Sam Cosgrove helped them seal a 2-1 win under Derek Mcinne’s stewardship. Since then the Dons have been winless in eight trips to the SMISA Stadium, a record they were eager to rectify if they wanted to stay on top of the chase of Celtic at the top of the league. A battling 4-1 win at home to Dundee a fortnight ago meant that the Dandies were in a buoyant mood after shaking off their Celtic Hampden blues at the start of the month. Jimmy Thelin rotated his side and named two changes to his lineup. Shayden Morris and the fit again Jamie McGrath came in for Duk and Topi Keskinen, who were relegated to the bench, with Peter Ambrose dropping out entierly. It was pleasing for the Dons faithful to see that Dante Polvara finally returned to the squad, after suffering a long term hamstring injury at the start of the campaign.
The Buddies have enjoyed plenty good memories of playing Aberdeen at home as of late, last time they faced off in Paisley, a famous two-minute stoppage time salvo from Mark O’Hara and Toyosi Olusanya sealed a memorable 2-1 win over a Neil Warnock side that were winning for over ninety-five minutes of the match itself. Since then, St Mirren have enjoyed five wins and three draws at home against them, something they looked to continue despite their opponent’s form in the league looking formidable. Last time out, they enjoyed a 2-1 away win against Hibs in the capital as a double just inside thirty minutes from Connor Mcmenamin helped them shoot into the top six. Stephen Robinson decided to name an unchanged side ahead from his side’s win in Leith two weeks ago, with free agent signing Declan John making the bench for the first time in place of Denis Adeniran.
Thanks to the ever so lovely Storm Bert, the game kicked off with a hour delay as the pitch passed referee John Beaton’s inspection.
St Mirren did not let the frosty weather bite them, from the off they pressed Aberdeen and caused their backline a lot of issues.
The pressing of their front line Olusayna, Tanser and McMenamin especially caused issues, playing the Dons at their own game. The latter of the names caused Aberdeen problems swiftly, the Northern Irishman had two shots deflected within the first five minutes. Toyosi Olusanya was dangerous from the first whistle thanks to his incessant pressing, early on he skinned Jack Mackenzie for a cross that was deflected for a corner, as well as nearly catching Dimitar Mitov napping in the first fifteen minutes. Aberdeen were slowly finding their feet through Shayden Morris’ pace and Leighton Clarkson’s patient play in behind Ester Sokelr, but the Saints were answering the questions the Dons posed rather easily. After a ball failed to find Sokler, the home goalkeeper Ellery Balcome pumped the ball up the park in between Gavin Molloy and Slobodan Rubezic, which led to Toyosi Olusyana to calmly slot it in between Dimitar Mitovs legs, a deserved goal for a big performance in this half. Not long after, Alex Gogic’s heavy challenge on the dangerous Shayden Morris forced John Beaton into sending off the Cypriot initially but a VAR check led to a booking instead, annoying the away crowd. This led to the Dons slowly weathering the Saints storm, looking more comfortable as the first half ended, Leighton Clarkson tried his best through his probing balls and fancy footwork, but not many clear cut chances came the way of Aberdeen.
Luis “Duk” Lopes and Kevin Nisbet replaced Clarkson and Sokler at the start of the second half. Duk nearly had an instant impact, lovely wide link up play with Jack Mackenzie led to a decent one on one save from Balcome. But it only took four minutes for the away side to equalise. Duks probing run led to a cross into the path of Kevin Nisbet, who fresh air swiped it, but former Saints player Jamie McGrath calmly slotted it in to spare the strikers blushes. This led to the dons weathering the storm and momentum being in their favour, despite Olusanya nearly replying instantly with a goal of his own, but it blazed over the bar. Aberdeen were utilising the pace on their wings whenever they could, full backs Jack Mackenzie and Nicky Devlin pushed up whenever they can and Devlin especially ramped up the parked with a low driven cross or two. After some initial Dons pressure, St Mirren bit and clawed their way back into it, lovely work from their frontline again led to more chances. McMenamin from very close-in had a shot, this time saved by Dimitar Mitov and again Olusayana had a chance at goal, albeit deflected from the Aberdeen defence, this led to the Dons to make another double sub, Sivert Nilsen and Shayden Morris were subbed off for Ante Palaversa and Topi Keskinen.
Both teams were probing after the away side scored, a cutting inside Topi Keskinen had a shot blocked, leading to Jamie McGrath firing a curled shot far wide, Alex Gogic forced Mitov into another save from a Mark O’Hara cross and Luis “Duk” Lopes was showing his strength and pace many times, that and a little string of fouls from the Cape Verden led to cheers of joy when he was booked by John Beaton for a late tackle on Marcus Fraser, but after both teams jostled for momemtum, it was quickly snatched by the home side, a clovely corner from Mark O’Hara in the 85th minute led to Richard Taylor leaping like a salmon, using his own player to help him jump and thump a header into the top right corner, sealing a very good win backed up by a very good performance. A defensive stramash in the St Mirren box led to a piece of Duk magic that nearly led to jubilation from the away end. His slow backheel looked like it was going to trickle in, but it hit the post. An agonising miss for an agonising afternoon for Aberdeen this evening. Gavin Molloy, Graeme Shinnie, Jamie McGrath and Kevin Nisbet were booked for the away side, while Greg Kiltie and Conor McMenamin added to Gogic’s downgraded booking.
Second placed Aberdeen’s lead over Rangers has been chipped down to 8 points thanks to a draw at Ibrox to Dundee United, while St Mirren are still in sixth.
