Stephen Robinson praises St Mirren’s resolve after compelling Christmas Eve win over 10-man Aberdeen

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson was full of praise for the way his players held their nerve to defeat 10-man Aberdeen and extend their unbeaten home record to nine games in a frantic Scottish Premiership clash at the SMiSA Stadium.

A large crowd of almost 7,500, including a sizeable travelling support were treated to a compelling Christmas Eve contest in Paisley as the Buddies survived a late onslaught from the visitors before netting a decisive third goal through substitute Greg Kiltie in the sixth minute of stoppage time.

Matty Kennedy’s terrific long-range strike had given the Dons an early ninth minute lead before captain Anthony Stewart was shown a straight red card for a last-man challenge, resulting in a spot-kick which saw Mark O’Hara hit the post before the ball rebounded off goalkeeper Kelle Roos into the net.

O’Hara converted his side’s second penalty before Jonah Ayunga missed a third spot-kick for the home side to hand Aberdeen a lifeline. However, as they pressed forward in search of a dramatic equaliser, Kiltie took advantage by racing up the pitch and slotting into an empty goal.

A delighted Robinson said: “After we missed the penalty, psychologically it gives Aberdeen a boost. You could see we were a little bit nervous, but also you have to remember we haven’t played for six weeks. So credit to the players, they dug in and defended when they needed to.

“We didn’t build the passes we needed to break the 10 men down in that 20-minute period and Aberdeen put that little bit of pressure on us. But Greg Kiltie comes on and shows great composure to score and we got penalties that we deserved because we played in the right areas.

“You’ve got to remember who we were playing, a team that’s invested a lot of money into their squad. So to get a result like that to get our campaign back up again is fantastic.”

Asked about his players’ decision to change their penalty taker at the third time of asking which denied O’Hara a hat-trick, Robinson added: “The boys made that decision on the pitch themselves. We always criticise players for not being brave or making decisions so I won’t be criticising anybody. It was a brave decision.

“Psychologically when you’ve taken two penalties, or even one, does the advantage go to the goalkeeper? Unless you’re Mbappe, I don’t know. But that was the decision the boys made on the pitch so there’s certainly no blame. Jonah was brave enough to step up. He won that penalty and the first one as well.”

Third-placed Aberdeen - still licking their wounds after losing two late goals in injury time against Rangers on Tuesday night - were in no mood to let their recent setbacks against the two Glasgow clubs affect them as they began the match on the front foot and were in front after just nine minutes.

Moments after clipping the post, Matty Kennedy received the ball fully 25 yards out. With his back to goal, the winger was allowed time and space to take a touch before sending an unstoppable looping effort beyond the outstretched Trevor Carson.

The visitors were then guilty of gifting Saints an early Christmas present when centre-back Anthony Stewart hesitated and was caught in possession by Jonah Ayunga. In his desperate attempt to retrieve the situation, the Dons skipper was penalised for a trip on the Buddies frontman on the edge of the box.

He was immediately sent off by referee Nick Walsh for conceding the foul, which was upgraded from a free-kick to a penalty following a VAR check. Mark O’Hara’s effort from 12-yards struck the left-hand post but was diverted into the net after deflecting off Kelle Roos’ trailing leg on 38 minutes.

Dutch stopper Roos produced an outstanding fingertrip save to deny Ayunga’s point-blank header shortly afterwards when Ethan Erhahon’s flighted cross from the right touchline wasn’t cleared, allowing Curtis Main to lift the ball towards the back post for his strike partner.

Mistakes continued to creep into Aberdeen’s display and miscommunication at the back proved costly six minutes into the second half. Roos was slow off his line and lost out in the foot-race by bringing down Main with O’Hara blasting his powerful spot-kick under the diving keeper.

The hosts were handed yet another opportunity to score from the spot just after the hour mark when Ayunga was sandwiched in between two defenders and managed to draw a foul from Ross McCrorie. The imposing striker was eager to get his name on the scoresheet and O’Hara was happy to step aside - a decision which ultimately backfired as Agunya saw his strike well saved by Roos after a lengthy VAR check.

Sensing a chance to snatch an unlikely share of the spoils, Aberdeen boss Jim Goodwin, whose side had been lacking real urgency, introduced American frontman Christian Ramirez to provide some fresh attacking impetus with 20 minutes remaining.

Albanian midfielder Ylber Ramadani then crashed a thunderous effort off the underside of the crossbar before Jack MacKenzie’s driving run in off the left flank forced Carson to get down smartly to block the defender’s goalbound shot.

Youngster Ryan Duncan somehow headed wide from a few yards out after Kennedy’s in-swinging corner flashed across the face of goal and Carson was called into action again in the closing stages to tip Kennedy’s free-kick from distance over the bar.

Aberdeen’s afternoon was summed up when Roos was waved up at a corner deep into stoppage time but after MacKenzie lost possession, they were left completely exposed as Kiltie broke up field and kept his composure to roll the ball into an empty net from midway inside the Dons half to seal the points for St Mirren on their delayed return to action following the World Cup break.

The defeat consigned the Dons to a third straight loss since the resumption of domestic football, but manager Goodwin admitted he could not criticise his players for a lack of effort.

He stated: “When Kelle Roos saves that penalty I though that gave the boys a real life and they were excellent from there on in. If there was a team that was going to get the next goal in the game it was going to be us. So I’ve got to credit the players.

“It would have been very easy when we went behind to throw the towel in and go under, but I don’t think the players can be labelled with that. It’s a tough one to take. To give away three penalties in any game is quite strange and to be in front and play as well as we did in the first 15 minutes of the game, to then shoot ourselves in the foot in the manner that we did was the hardest part.”

St Mirren (5-3-2): Carson, Tanser, O’Hara, Ayunga (Gogic; 90), Main (Brophy; 84), Erhahon (Kiltie; 45), Baccus, Dunne, Fraser, Strain, Gallagher

Unused: Urminsky (GK), Shaughnessy, Flynn, Henderson, Reid, Olusanya

Aberdeen (3-5-2): Roos, McCrorie, Scales, Stewart, Barron, Miovski, Lopes (MacKenzie; 45), Ramadani, Clarkson (Duncan; 45), Coulson (Ramirez; 66), Kennedy

Unused: Lewis (GK), Morris, Watkins, Polvara, Richardson, Milne

Referee: Nick Walsh

Attendance: 7,394 (1,219 away)

GlasgowWorld Man of the Match: Mark O’Hara (St Mirren)