St.Mirren U 21's - v - Dundee Utd U 21's - SPL Under 21 League: Date 18/09/00

After being defeated 8 -1 by Motherwell last week, a match shown by Sky Sports, it was important that St.Mirren looked to play football and be stronger in defence. The match saw Saints do these two things, but the delivery of the final ball let them down on occasion. To be honest, the 1 - 0 result is more a tale of Jim Hamilton's missed chances than a true reflection of how the game went.

During a first half in which Saints didn't manage to get a shot on target, but did play good football until the final third, Jim Hamilton and Steven McConologue managed to miss a fair amount of chances between them. It wasn't all down to fine Utd play though, don't make the mistake of thinking that. Some poor Saints defending, put Utd in goalscoring position on a number of occasions. Indeed, McConologues goal came after some poor defnsive play on the edge of the box...McConologue being left with the easiest of chances. It was perhaps fortunate that Steven McConologue was taken off after 39 minutes in the first half. It wouldn't be true, though, to say Utd controlled the first half, they merely had more penetration about their play.

The second half saw McConologues replacement, Gary Middleton, and Jim Hamilton continue to press the Saints goal, the Utd midfield even got into the act and Saints were lucky that some poor finishing kept the scores low. For Saints, John macdonald looked the busiest of the players ont he park and along with Ryan Robinson, Simon Lappin and Gary Bowman, began to find some penetration through the middle of the park. It wasn't until the 87th minute though that St.Mirren's best chance came, with Gary Bowman striking the ball just wide from distance.

Overall this match was a fairly contested encounter in which both sides played some good football. The ball was passed around well by both sides and United showed Saints the sort of level which will become expected of them. It was never going to be easy jumping from Division one to the SPL and this Under 21 game, a reserve game it may be, showed that the gap won't be bridged without a lot of hard work.

Man Of The Match: If I was honest my man of the match would go to a Dundee Utd player, but for Saints I would say that Gary Bowman, Ryan Robinson and John macdonald were the best three on the park. My vote goes to Ryan Robinson with his impressive midfield display.

Trialist Report: Tony Woods had a few chances at goal, including two good chances in the last ten minutes. Suffered due to the first half lack of punch and also was caught offside on a few occasions.

Trialist number two was Joe Nellis, currently farmed out to Thornliewood Utd, SPL laws state he must be listed as a trialist.