St Mirren not blaming goalkeeper chaos for Hibs defeat

Sam Foley admits preparation wasn’t ideal but says the Buddies were simply beaten by the better team
Zdenek Zlamal only met his new St Mirren team-mates three hours before kick-off. Picture: Ross Parker/SNS GroupZdenek Zlamal only met his new St Mirren team-mates three hours before kick-off. Picture: Ross Parker/SNS Group
Zdenek Zlamal only met his new St Mirren team-mates three hours before kick-off. Picture: Ross Parker/SNS Group

While there was understandable anger and frustration surrounding the SPFL’s decision to make St Mirren play this match there was no desire from anyone at Paisley to claim that lack of compassion was the deciding factor in the eventual outcome.

Common sense dictates that Jim Goodwin’s men were not aided by the sidelining of all three goalkeepers after two tested positive for coronavirus and a third, who had trained closely with the pair, was forced to sit it out in case he was incubating the virus.

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Common sense tells us the team were not helped by the fact they couldn’t train the day before the game, throwing their preparation into 
turmoil, and good judgment suggests there will have been plenty uncertainty when the squad woke on match day, unsure whether their gaffer had managed to land emergency cover or if they were going to head into a fixture against high-flying Hibernian with an outfield player between the sticks.

Kevin Nisbet opens the scoring for Hibs. Picture: Ross Parker/SNS GroupKevin Nisbet opens the scoring for Hibs. Picture: Ross Parker/SNS Group
Kevin Nisbet opens the scoring for Hibs. Picture: Ross Parker/SNS Group

In the end, Hearts loaned them Zdenek Zlamal, a keeper with significant Premiership experience, and the mooted shake-up of the team, to move Sam Foley into goal, did not need to become a reality.

But, introduced to his team-mates three hours prior to kick-off, it was hardly an ideal build up for Zlamal or the men who turned out in front of him but, to their credit, after they had conceded three goals and been dismantled by their capital guests, there were no excuses.

“I don’t think you can use that as an excuse,” admitted Foley. “Bobby [Zdenek] has come in and made a few good saves. I said to him jokingly before the game, “just keep the ball out of the net”. But we just didn’t limit them enough in terms of chances. We’ve gifted them two good chances and they’ve stuck them away. Regardless of who was in goal, it was going to be a difficult job.”

The fact that Hibs gave them little time to settle in was key, hitting them with two goals in the first 20 minutes to leave them chasing a game they 
never really had a say in.

The first in the 14th minute was a messy one for the hosts to lose. A crossfield pass from Christian Doidge found Martin Boyle on the right flank, and he fed Paul McGinn. If the Paisley men had failed to get close enough to thwart Hibs until that stage, they had bodies in the box who should have prevented the low cross finding Kevin Nisbet but they didn’t and he stabbed his effort under the stand-in keeper.

Three minutes later and 
they doubled the lead. Boyle again found space to set up Joe Newell on the edge of the area and with time to pick his spot, he curled an effort into the net.

It wasn’t completely one-sided, though, and the Buddies were unfortunate to be denied a penalty when Ryan Porteous handled the ball and then, as the first half edged to a close, the goalkeeping focus switched from Zlamal to Hibs’ Ofir Marciano, who pulled off a cracking double save from a Ilkay Durmus free-kick and then a Nathan Sheron effort from point-blank range.

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A goal for St Mirren at that stage may have altered the path of the game but instead it was Jack Ross’ men who got the third goal of the game to wrap things up.

It came in the 59th minute and, again, St Mirren only had themselves to blame. They should have done better clearing Newell’s corner but it was played back out to him and he swung in another looping ball which dipped down behind Zlamal and Boyle was there, unguarded at the back post, and he nodded it into the net.

“I don’t think we deserved to win the game. In fact, we didn’t deserve to get anything out of it,” conceded Foley. “Hibs were the better team. We can’t blame anyone else. The game was in our hands and if we were going to win it we had to do a lot more. In spells we played some good football but going 2-0 down I don’t think it was easy to get on the ball then and try to make things happen. We pushed, tried and huffed and puffed but just couldn’t break them down.”

While Ross had some sympathy for his counterpart, he was pleased with his players’ ability to shut out the pre-match noise and get the win that keeps the pressure on next weekend’s rivals Rangers, at the top of the table. But, that blinkered approach had been tougher for St Mirren, said Foley.

“It was a spanner in the works not being able to train on Friday. It hampers your preparations. But you still 
have to play to the best of your ability. It was always going to be difficult but these are the obstacles you have to try to overcome. You need to put them to the back of your mind and get on with your job.”

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