ST MIRREN 2 ABERDEEN 1
William Hill Premiership
Saturday 23rd November 2024
SMISA Stadium
Ref: John Beaton
Attendance: 7,533
The Dons slipped to their first league defeat of the campaign at St Mirren as the game at Paisley finally got underway an hour late after intensive work to get the pitch into a playable condition.
Aberdeen beat Dundee 4-1 in their last game before the international break and made three changes to that side. Sivert Heltne Nilsen, Jamie McGrath and Shayden Morris all returned to the side with Ante Palaversa, Topi Keskinen and Duk starting from the bench. Dante Polvara was back in the Matchday 20 for the first time this season.
St Mirren won 2-1 at Hibernian before the international break and named an unchanged side.
Following an hour’s delay in order to get the pitch into a playable state following heavy snow, the surface was still tricky to play on, but St Mirren settled first, earning a couple of early opportunities, McMenamin coming close after four minutes with a shot that crept just past the far post with the help of a Slobodan Rubezic deflection.
The hosts were dominant early on and Tanser was inches wide with a fierce volley from 25 yards out in the 10th minute, the ball flashing across goal. The Dons were in the hosts’ half for just about the first time a minute later, Morris galloping into space, but his cutback was cut out by a Buddies defender.
It was Morris again on 13, collecting a long ball from Clarkson and cutting inside to fire off a shot that was deflected over the bar. From a well worked corner that followed, Balcombe was forced into an excellent save at his near post as Ester Sokler jabbed an effort at goal.
St Mirren were ahead on 20 minutes, a long ball launched from the back by Balcombe as he cleared an Aberdeen attack bouncing deep in the Dons’ half, Olusanya bustling his way between Rubezic and Gavin Molloy to get onto the ball before producing a composed finish past Dimitar Mitov.
Morris was causing problems again on 25, forcing his way past one challenge before Gogic came in from his left. The St Mirren man got to the ball first but went sliding in with his studs up and the referee produced a straight red card. VAR invited the referee to look at the monitor and he reduced the decision to a yellow card.
Morris was the main Aberdeen threat down the right, regularly having Tanser on toast, but the home side defended their box really well to deny the Dons any openings as the half wore on. McGrath was booked for a foul on McMenamin on 43 minutes. McMenamin followed him in for hauling Morris over on halfway seconds later.
HALF-TIME: ST MIRREN 1 ABERDEEN 0
Kevin Nisbet and Duk replaced Clarkson and Sokler for the Dons at the break.
There was almost an immediate impact, Duk threading a pass into the path of Jack MacKenzie who slalomed past a couple of challenges and into the box, but his low shot got stuck under the leg of Balcombe, a save that owed as much to good fortune as good goalkeeping.
The equaliser did arrive on 50 minutes though. Duk again was the threat down the left, bursting to the by-line. His cross picked out Nisbet who completely mishit his attempted volley but the ball squirmed away perfectly into the path of McGrath to sweep the ball into the bottom corner from ten yards.
Olusanya was close to restoring the lead two minutes later, Rubezic’s clearance hitting Shinnie and falling for the St Mirren man who hit a rasping drive just over the bar from a tight angle. At the other end, Duk was on the ball again after 54 minutes, pouncing on a clearance and firing off a shot that was blocked to safety by Bwomono inside the six-yard box. Shinnie was booked for pulling back O’Hara on the hour.
McGrath threatened a second goal on 62, collecting the ball in a central position on the edge of the D, but his shot dragged the ball just wide of the target.
McMenamin should have scored on 64, St Mirren playing the ball neatly through the Aberdeen defence but with the goal at his mercy, McMenamin couldn’t beat Mitov who spread himself well to make a terrific save.
There was a nasty clash of heads at a 67th minute corner, Heltne Nilsen and Olusanya both requiring treatment. Aberdeen used the break to replace him and Morris with Keskinen and Palaversa. Molloy was booked after 72 minutes for ending a St Mirren break with a pull of a shirt. St Mirren made their first change on 74, McMenamin making way for Mandron.
There was another good save from Mitov on 76, Kiltie darting into the box and getting on the end of a cross with a first time volley from 12 yards, Mitov clutching the ball low to his right. Duk was booked for a late tackle three minutes later. The hosts brought on Ayunga for Olusanya on 82. It paid immediate dividends, O’Hara hoisting a corner to the far post where Taylor got up to power in a header from four yards out. Aberdeen responded immediately by bringing on Vicente Besuijen for McGrath.
Aberdeen put in a similar far post corner on 86 minutes the ball eventually dropping for Duk who tried an audacious backheel, across the face of goal from ten yards out, that thumped off the post and away, Keskinen then driving a shot into the body of Balcombe as they kept the pressure on. Kiltie was booked as we headed into added time. He was then replaced by Boyd-Munce. Nisbet was booked moments later for hauling down Ayunga.
ST MIRREN: Balcombe, Fraser, Gogic, Taylor, Bwomono, Phillips, O’Hara, Tanser, McMenamin (Mandron 74), Olusanya (Ayunga 82), Kiltie (Boyd-Munce 90+2).
Subs not used: Urminsky, Kenny, John, Penman, Smyth, Idowu.
GOALS: Olusanya (20), Taylor (83)
BOOKED: Gogic, McMenamin, Kiltie
ABERDEEN: Mitov, Devlin, Molloy, Rubezic, MacKenzie, Shinnie, Heltne Nilsen (Palaversa 69), Morris (Keskinen 68), Clarkson (Nisbet 46), McGrath (Besuijen 85), Sokler (Duk 46).
Subs not used: Doohan, Polvara, Milne, McGarry.
GOAL: McGrath (50)
BOOKED: McGrath, Shinnie, Molloy, Duk, Nisbet
