Fair play to Alexander and the players yesterday. The game had all the ingredients for another hapless display and probable defeat but for once that script went into the bin.
We really played quite well and I think having 3 recognised midfielders who can pass the ball made a huge difference - no howitzer deliveries for the front 3 to deal with.
Sure we lost a poor opening goal but the important fact is the players didn’t chuck it. They simply reset and started again and scored 2 goals in a minute to turn the game on its head.
The 2nd St. Mirren goal was the result of a misjudgment by Liam Kelly but you can’t pillory him for that as he has kept us in a lot of matches this season with some fantastic goalkeeping displays.
But yet again, the players reset themselves and went again and deservedly went in front through young Cornelius.
I think St Mirren dominated most of the 2nd half but without causing too many difficulties for us.
Van Veen’s lead up play for our 4th goal was fantastic and it was great to see somebody beat players and drive into the heart of their defence causing mayhem in that manner.
I thought the side had a balanced look about it yesterday that has been absent for a while. Each of the players seemed to understand their individual role and their role in the collective unit.
I think this was down to the midfield 3 where Cornelius being there seemed to give Goss and Slattery the confidence to look forward and link with the front 3 each of whom I thought were very good. Efford’s running, pace and persistence was a constant problem for the St. Mirren back line and they were never able to contain him. Shields too with his willingness to make runs into the inside-right and inside-left channels caused problems for the St Mirren defence who couldn’t seem to work out how to play him. And Van Veen was at times simply unplayable and when he’s in this kind of mood he is a fantastic attacking spearhead.
The weaknesses were mainly in defence but then that maybe that’s the first time these 4 have played together in these positions so I’m not going to slaughter them.
Same starting 11 next week please.