St Mirren climb to fourth after beating Dundee United 2-1 as VAR makes Scottish Premiership debut

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson reckons the time taken to review VAR decisions will “speed up a bit” once everyone gets used to the new technology on a historic weekend for Scottish football.

The Buddies moved up to fourth place in the Scottish Premiership after beating strugglers Dundee United 2-1 in a compelling match at the SMiSA Stadium.

Substitute Alex Greive nodded home the winner with seven minutes remaining after Steven Fletcher had cancelled out Curtis Main’s first-half opener. The woodwork came to the visitors rescue on three separate occasions, with VAR ruling out Jonah Ayunga’s goal midway through the second period.

Robinson said: “We got the result our play deserved in the end. I thought we were excellent for 25 minutes and should’ve been 2-0 up but we didn’t take our chances and dropped off a little bit.

“Credit to Dundee United, they grew into the game and it probably took until they scored for us to find our feet again. Jonah hits the post and, in my view, had a perfectly good goal ruled out. But is shows the character and the strength of such a small squad to score the winner.

“I’m delighted with the performance and the attitude of the players. The picked themselves back up after their equaliser and rallied well. We’ve got a group of boys that are honest and will keep fighting until the end. We’ve got boys on the bench who are frustrated they’re not starting but are coming on and proving points which is fantastic.

“Curtis (Main) and Keanu (Baccus) were two of the best players on the pitch. Curtis and Jonah (Ayunga) were both excellent up front and are a right handful to play against.”

Asked for his thoughts on the decision to rule out Ayunga’s goal, Robinson admitted: “Listen, what it goes to show is there’s still human eyes that have to judge it. I’m not saying it’s the right or wrong call, referees have got the hardest job ever but it will certainly help. We’ve seen it happening in England, it’s something we’re going to have to get used to.

“The officials deserve credit, it’s hard for them as well because everything is new. I thought they handled the situation well and he did explain to me afterwards why the decision was made. It’s certainly different having it in place, it’s played a big part this weekend and maybe it adds to the excitement of it.

“It’ll probably speed up a little bit as everyone gets used to it but it’s a step in the right direction whatever way we dress it up, we can’t get left behind as a league and country.”

Dundee United arrived in Paisley still licking their wounds after exiting the Premier Sports Cup at the quarter-final stage on Tuesday night and they struggled to create a serious impression on this game from the outset.

Charles Dunne’s header at the back post from Ethan Erhahon’s delivery crashed against the bar after just six minutes as the hosts started on the front foot. They had the ball in the back of the net ten minutes later through Ryan Strain, but referee Grant Irvine spotted a foul in the build-up before the ball had crossed the line.

Saints early dominance continued with the threatening Agyuna finding himself in acres of space down the right-hand side after 20 minutes. He drove into the visitors penalty before watching his powerful drive on the angle ripple the side-netting.

United enjoyed a decent spell of possesion thereafter, with Aziz Behich particularly impressive on the left wing and they came close to breaking the deadlock when goalkeeper Trevor Carson was caught miles off the line but Tony Watt was unable to guide his lobbed effort on target.

The opening goal did arrive on 41 minutes when Curtis Main leapt above his marker to meet a deep cross and direct a header goalward. The ball glanced off the post before deflecting off visiting keeper Carljohan Eriksson before trundling over the line.

The visitors were living dangerously as the half drew to a close and a quickfire second almost followed immediately from the restart. The lively Main cracked a 25-yard strike off the crossbar and Agyuna could only chest the ball wide on the follow up.

The Tangerines improved slightly after the break but they survived another huge let off when Ayunga cut inside from the right and clipped Eriksson’s left-hand post.

Then came the equaliser somewhat against the run of play after 57 minutes. Veteran striker Steven Fletcher had only been on the park for three minutes and he was on hand to side-foot into the far corner after Watt’s nodded lay-off from Behich’s cross.

That goal ignited the contest and a controversial decision followed when Agyuna’s strike was ruled out after referee Irvine was advised to check the pitchside VAR monitor for a possible foul in the build-up.

Keanu Baccus was adjudged to have caught Behich with a trailing arm but the decision took three minutes to clear up, sparking widespread frustration among the home fans.

United looked to seize advantage with Fletcher, Watt and Liam Smith all registering attempts on goal but it was the dogged hosts who found a winner after 83 minutes.

Again, Erhahon’s enticing delivery was met by Alex Greive and the New Zealand international rose above Ryan Edwards to glance a header beyond the outstretched Eriksson into the net.

Main then almost put the game beyond doubt in the first minute of injury-time following a quick counter-attack but the frontman fired straight at the keeper after latching on to Greive’s cutback.

The result ended a run of two matches without a win for St Mirren and maintained their impressive home record, which has led to manager Robinson being linked with the vacan Northern Ireland job this week.

Dundee United remain in the relegation play-off spot and head coach Liam Fox admits his side must address various issues before their next match against Motherwell.

He stated: “I’m hugely disappointed. There was aspects of our game that I thought were quite good today but there’s a lot things we need to improve quickly.

“We need to stop the amount of crosses coming into our box and we need to make better decisions, especially when we’re on top in games. That’s for us to look at structurally and individually with players.

“We had a bit of luck with the VAR decision and at that point we were looking to go on and win the game. Unfortunately for us, we’ve come away with nothing.”

St Mirren (3-5-2): Carson, Fraser, Gogic, Dunne, Strain, Baccus, Erhahon (Flynn; 90), O’Hara, Tait, Ayunga (Greive; 78), Main

Unused: Urminsky (GK), Kenny, Shaughnessy, Taylor, Henderson, Kiltie, Brophy

Dundee United (3-4-3): Eriksson, Smith, McMann, Niskanen (Fletcher; 53), Djoum (Harkes; 67), Edwards, Sibbald, Middleton, Behich, McGrath, Watt (Anaku; 69)

Unused: Birighitti (GK), Graham, Pawlett, Meekison, Freeman, Thomson

Referee: Grant Irvine

Attendance: 6,273 (994 away)

GlasgowWorld Man of the Match: Jonah Ayunga (St Mirren)