St Mirren saved their European qualification hopes alive with a snug 2-0 win over Dundee United at Tannadice.
Mikael Mandron opened the scoring for the Buddies within the first half, with Jonah Ayunga sealing the win after the break.
The victory strikes St Mirren to inside two factors of United, who at present sit in fifth within the Premiership desk – the final European spot – with simply two video games of the season remaining.
The hosts made two adjustments to the aspect which misplaced at Hibernian final week, with Kristijan Trapanovski and Glenn Middleton coming in for Jort van der Sande and David Babunski.
The Buddies additionally made two alterations to the crew which beat Aberdeen final Saturday, with Roland Idowu and Caolan Boyd-Munce changing Oisin Smyth and the injured Mark O’Hara.
The guests had been the primary to threaten within the seventh minute when Mandron despatched a 25-yard roller simply previous dwelling goalkeeper Jack Walton’s right-hand submit.
United carved out a gap of their very own when Will Ferry discovered skipper Ross Docherty contained in the St Mirren field, however the midfielder’s shot was saved by St Mirren keeper Zach Hemming.
The hosts then handed up the most effective alternative of the match to this point within the fifteenth minute when Middleton discovered Sam Dalby with a pinpoint cross from the left, nevertheless, the striker headed over with the purpose at his mercy.
The pendulum swung St Mirren’s means once more with Richard Taylor heading over earlier than Walton needed to make an excellent save to maintain out an Ayunga shot.
Nonetheless, the house keeper couldn’t forestall Stephen Robinson’s aspect from taking the lead within the thirty first minute. Ryan Alebiosu teed up Mandron on the fringe of the United field and this time, the striker’s low shot nestled within the backside nook of Walton’s internet.
Three minutes after the restart, the hosts had one other nice alternative when Docherty threaded the ball by way of to Dalby however the striker’s shot missed the goal.
Dalby threatened once more shortly after when he obtained his head to a Ferry free-kick, nevertheless, Hemming pulled off an acrobatic save to disclaim the entrance man.
United had been undoubtedly on the entrance foot now with Middleton sending a snapshot flying simply huge.
St Mirren lastly produced a possibility of their very own, however Alebiosu’s low shot was fantastically saved by the diving Walton.
Nonetheless, the house keeper was selecting the ball out of his internet within the 66th minute when Idowu discovered Ayunga, who beat dwelling defender Emmanuel Adegboyega earlier than calmly slotting low previous Walton to place the Buddies again within the driving seat.
St Mirren ought to have made it three within the 78th minute, however Killian Phillips blasted over.
What the managers mentioned…
St Mirren supervisor Stephen Robinson: “I thought the performance was outstanding and it should have been more.
“All we have mentioned is we’ll attempt to proceed to win soccer matches and see the place it takes us.
“We just need to keep performing. The pleasing aspect for me is we deserved it, the performance was very, very good and some of the football was outstanding, so we’ll just keep doing that and see where it takes us.
“That is the best factors tally, I believe, in fashionable historical past for St Mirren. It is higher than final 12 months, so we preserve doing that and we continue to grow and see the place it takes us.”
Dundee United manager Jim Goodwin: “It seemed as if St Mirren had a bit extra vitality and a bit extra freshness. I believe this season has caught up with one or two of us.
“I don’t want to take anything away from St Mirren because they thoroughly deserved the win today.
“With out making excuses, we have got too many gamers simply not at 100 per cent enjoying by way of accidents. I believe that is been obviously apparent within the final couple of fixtures.
“We’ve got two massive games to come. Obviously, there’s not a great deal of time to recover. We know how difficult the task is going to be midweek and next Saturday against a very good Aberdeen team.”
