First Team
RESERVES: Saints 3-0 St. Mirren
8th October 2018
Saints Reserves enjoyed a comfortable 3-0 victory over St. Mirren in Kelty this afternoon, thanks to goals from Shaun Struthers, Tristan Nydam and Liam Craig.
Alan Maybury fielded a strong line-up for the Reserve League Cup tie with a number of first-team squad members involved at New Central Park.
MATCH REPORT
It was a wet and blustery Monday afternoon at New Central Park, Kelty as Alan Maybury's Saints Reserves took on St. Mirren in the Reserve League Cup.
Maybury was able to call on players with first-team experience for the match, with Liam Craig, Stefan Scougall, Liam Gordon, Chris Kane and Tristan Nydam all starting for Saints.
After a hectic first few minutes, Saints had their first chance five minutes in when Chris Kane was upended 30 yards from the St. Mirren goal.
Liam Craig's quick thinking put Euan O'Reilly through in the box but his right-footed effort was well saved by Dean Lyness.
The visitors created their first opportunity five minutes later when Cameron Breadner found Joshua Jack in the area but the forward fired just wide of Mark Hurst's post.
Saints began to take control as the first-half continued with Euan O'Reilly causing the visitors problems down the right hand side. On 19 minutes the youngster drove down the flank before floating in a cross to the back post to find Liam Craig, but the experienced midfielder's left-footed effort crept over the crossbar.
Five minutes later and Saints took the lead when Craig played a nice through ball to Shaun Struthers, who saw his effort take a big deflection before finding it's way into the back of Lyness' net.
The home side continued to pile on the pressure and created more opportunities before the interval. From his left-back position, Tristan Nydam fed a neat ball into Chris Kane but the striker fired just wide of the target on 37 minutes.
Kane was lively throughout and after 40 minutes he pressed St. Mirren 'keeper Lyness into a mistake when he kicked the ball straight to Liam Craig however the left midfielder's lobbed effort went the wrong side of the post.
The visitors did come close to a leveller against the run of play though when Jack forced a fantastic reflex save from Saints 'keeper Mark Hurst as the first-half neared its conclusion.
There was time for one more chance and right before the break the impressive Tristan Nydam scored a stunning individual effort to put Saints 2-0 up.
The 18-year-old ran with the ball from left-back beating several St. Mirren players before cutting inside the penalty area and slotting the ball calmly past Dean Lyness.
The second-half began quietly but Saints did have a penalty appeal turned down just before the hour mark.
A nice switch from Euan O'Reilly found Liam Craig who touched the ball into the path of Shaun Struthers. The striker appeared to knock the ball past Lyness before falling to the floor, however the referee did not feel there was enough contact to warrant a penalty.
The home side continued to pepper the St. Mirren goal with Struthers and Craig both coming close before Saints sealed the victory with fifteen minutes remaining.
Nydam was brave in a 50/50 challenge which sent the ball down the left to Liam Craig, who shot low across Lyness and found the back of the net to make it 3-0.
Cammy Ballantyne, Jamie McKenzie and Jordan Northcott were all introduced in the second-half, replacing Scougall, O'Reilly and Struthers as Alan Maybury's man ran out comfortable winners.
SAINTS: Mark Hurst, Aaron Comrie, Tristan Nydam, Liam Gordon, Ben Quigley, Ali McCann, Euan O'Reilly (McKenzie 69), Stefan Scougall (Ballantyne 60), Liam Craig, Shaun Struthers (Northcott 78), Chris Kane.
UNUSED SUBS: Jack Wills, Gregor Donald, Oliver Hamilton.
SCORERS: Shaun Struthers (24), Tristan Nydam (45), Liam Craig (75).
BOOKED: Liam Gordon (33)