A delighted Jim Goodwin gives his reaction as St Mirren strike late to defeat Motherwell 2-1 and pick up three important Ladbrokes Premiership points.

St Mirren travel to Fir Park for our rearranged Ladbrokes Premiership match that was originally scheduled to take place on Saturday 15th February.

FORM

St Mirren - WLDDDD

Motherwell - DLLDLL

St Mirren head to Fir Park a week on from their Scottish Cup Fifth Round replay win against Motherwell.

The Buddies travelled through to Fir Park last Tuesday with a place in the last eight of the competition up for grabs. Jim Goodwin's men raced into an incredible 4-1 lead at half-time thanks to a double from Jon Obika, an own goal from Peter Hartley and a strike from Sam Foley. But Motherwell fought back in the second-half with goals from Tony Watt, Rolando Aarons and Allan Campbell taking the match to extra-time and penalties. 

Saints came out on top in the shoot-out with Jamie McGrath, Kyle McAllister and Obika scoring to give the Buddies a 3-2 win after Liam Donnelly, Watt and Jermaine Hylton had missed for the home side. 

Due to the postponement of tonight's original fixture, along with the postponement of Friday night's scheduled match against Hearts, Saints haven't been in Ladbrokes Premiership action since a 2-1 loss away to Livingston almost two weeks ago.

Motherwell come into tonight's match having drawn 0-0 with Hamilton Academical in the Lanarkshire derby on Saturday. 

Despite a run of seven games without a win, Stephen Robinson's side currently sit in third place in the Ladbrokes Premiership and could open up a four point gap on fourth placed Aberdeen with a win tonight.

Motherwell will also be looking to win at Fir Park for the first time since December 7th 2019 when they defeated Hearts 1-0 in the Ladbrokes Premiership.

PREVIOUS

Saints meet Motherwell for the fifth, and likely final, time this season. 

Motherwell have beaten the Buddies in the two league matches between the sides this season. 

Goals from James Scott and Chris Long gave the Steelmen a 2-0 victory at Fir Park in October, while Scott, who left Motherwell to join Hull City in January, netted again in December - scoring twice in a 3-0 win for Stephen Robinson's side at the Simple Digital Arena. 

The two have met twice in 2020 - both in the Scottish Cup. The first was at the start of the month when Motherwell were the visitors to the Simple Digital Arena. Chris Long fired the Steelmen into a first-half lead, but Saints hit back in the second-half through Alex Jakubiak to force a replay.

The Buddies then came out on top and booked their place in the quarter-finals following a dramatic 120 minutes plus penalties. 

St Mirren's last league win over Motherwell was at Fir Park in December 2018 when Simeon Jackson scored the only goal in a 1-0 win for Saints.

TEAM NEWS

Gary MacKenzie, Kyle Magennis, Stephen McGinn and Ryan Flynn all remain out for Saints.

Chris Long will miss out for Motherwell having been shown a red card in their draw with Hamilton on Saturday. 

MANAGER'S THOUGHTS

"We've analysed last week's game and there are plenty of positives we can take from the first-half.

"Of course there are things we can do better based on things that happened in the second-half.

"We'll setup the way we did in the first-half, try and get a foothold in the game early on and hopefully get our noses in front again.

"Hopefully it's as entertaining a game as last week was and we can give a good account of ourselves.

"If we put in a performance similar to that of the first-half then we give ourselves a great chance of picking up maximum points."

* One adult and two juniors

** 60 & over, 16-18, students with valid ID

Ambulant/wheelchair tickets must be purchased direct from St Mirren.

A note for those travelling on supporters buses, that parking for supporters buses will be on Orbiston Street.

Tickets are available at the St Mirren Ticket Office and online. Please note that tickets for the originally scheduled match are valid.

The St Mirren Ticket Office opening hours in the build up to this match are as follows:

Mon, 24th Feb - 10:00am - 2:00pm 
Tue, 25th Feb - 10:00am - 2:00pm

St Mirren Ticket Office Tel: (0141) 840-6130.

St Mirren Ticket Office E-Mail: tickets@stmirren.com.

Additional Information for Travelling Fans

St Mirren make the short trip to Lanarkshire to face Motherwell in a rearranged Ladbrokes Premiership fixture at Fir Park.

The referee will be David Munro. He will be assisted by David Roome and Stuart Hodge. The Fourth Official will be David Dickinson.

Please note that the scheduled St Mirren Charitable Foundation's 'Saturday Saints' session at the St Mirren Airdome will not take place this morning (Saturday 22nd Feb) due to adverse weather conditions. 

The St Mirren Ticket Office will be open tomorrow (Saturday 22nd Feb) between 9am-11am for fans wishing to purchase tickets for next Saturday's Scottish Cup quarter-final tie against Aberdeen.

The match and tickets info is as follows:

St Mirren vs Aberdeen
William Hill Scottish Cup
Venue: Simple Digital Arena, Paisley
Date: Saturday 29th February 2020
Kick-off: 7:20pm

Prices
Adults - £20
Concessions* - £15
13-17 year-old - £10
12 and under - £5

*Over-65, ambulant disabled and wheelchair users. 

Those who receive the highest rate of PIP/DLA and have showed proof for mobility purposes will be entitled to a free carer.

Tickets will also be on-sale for our rearranged Ladbrokes Premiership match away to Motherwell on Tuesday 25th February.

The match and tickets info is as follows:

Motherwell v St Mirren
Ladbrokes Premiership
Venue: Fir Park, Motherwell
Date: Tuesday 25th February 2020
Kick-off: 7:45pm

Ticket Prices

Adult - £24
Family* - £28
Concession** - £17
Wheelchair - £17 (carer free)
Junior (15 and under) - £3

*One and two juniors

Tickets for the originally scheduled match will still be valid for Tuesday night's game.

St Mirren Ticket Office Tel: (0141) 840-6130.

St Mirren Ticket Office E-Mail: tickets@stmirren.com.

Following a pitch inspection, tonight's scheduled match between St Mirren and Hearts has been postponed.

Following sustained heavy rainfall along with forecasts of heavy rain until kick-off, referee Alan Muir has deemed the match will NOT go ahead.

We will update supporters with the new date as soon as possible.

Please note that following the postponement of tonight's match hospitality has been cancelled also.

St Mirren will become fan owned by the end of next year after SMISA members overwhelmingly backed plans to do so via a unique partnership with Kibble.

We thank everyone who cast their vote over the past fortnight on our proposals. Voting closed at noon today and the results are as follows:

YES – 782 votes (91.6%) / NO – 72 votes (8.4%)

Turnout: 854 votes (71.9% of all members, includes nine postal votes)

The results have been verified by Alan Russell, Chief Executive of Supporters Direct Scotland, whom we thank for his assistance.

The proposals on which you voted were developed over many months of discussion between ourselves, Kibble and St Mirren.

We put them forward because of our belief they offer the best possible future for our club – by securing fan ownership in a way which could move St Mirren to the next level, on and off the park, while growing it as a force for good within the Paisley community.

We are proud of and excited by what this deal makes possible for our club, and are pleased it attracted such overwhelming support.

All involved will now look to complete the legal formalities and of the deal, which will allow Kibble to buy their stake in the club from Gordon and start working with the club board to bring their expertise to the club very soon.

SMISA chair and Paisley’s MSP George Adam said: "This is a historic and proud day not just for our club but for everyone in Paisley.

"We started the journey towards fan ownership four years ago because we knew there could be no better people to safeguard St Mirren forever than the ones who will care for it most…the fans.

"This deal agreed today not only delivers that ahead of schedule but it strengthens it – our partners Kibble will help the club grow, as a business and as a force for good in the Paisley community.

"The overwhelming nature of the vote shows the extent to which SMISA’S members have bought into what this partnership will create – and we are excited by the possibilities for St Mirren."

Kibble chief executive Jim Gillespie said: "With Kibble’s roots in Paisley stretching back almost 200 years, this deal brings together two of Paisley’s oldest organisations.

"We are thrilled SMISA’s members have given us such a show of support and we plan to repay that by working together with SMISA, Gordon and the rest of the St Mirren’s board and staff to see where our expertise can help the club move forward.

"Crucially, this partnership will help change the lives of some of the most vulnerable young people in Scotland – by allowing us to step up our young workforce development programme to provide training and job opportunities based around the club’s facilities and operations."

St Mirren chairman Gordon Scott said: "When I took over as chairman four years it was always with the aim of passing the shares to the fans when the time was right.

"That day will arrive much sooner than we initially planned – but I believe this the right model, with the right partner, to build on the good work the current board has already done, and take St Mirren to the next level on and off the park.

"The new expertise Kibble will bring will allow us to find new ways to bring income into the club, and I and others on the board can’t wait to get started on working with them to do that."

Tonight's scheduled match between St Mirren and Hearts will be subject to a pitch inspection at 3:30pm.

Following sustained heavy rainfall along with forecasts of heavy rain until kick-off, referee Alan Muir will assess the pitch later this afternoon to decide whether the match will go ahead. 

We will update supporters as soon as a decision is made.

Tickets for our William Hill Scottish Cup quarter-final match against Aberdeen will go on sale on Friday 21st February from 10am.

Season ticket holders will have until 2pm on Thursday 27th February at to secure their seats, after which all seats will be released and sold on a first-come-first-served basis.

St Mirren v Aberdeen
William Hill Scottish Cup
Venue: The Simple Digital Arena, Paisley
Date: Saturday 29th February 2020
Kick-off: 7:20pm

Prices
Adults - £20
Concessions* - £15
13-17 year-old - £10
12 and under - £5

*Over-65, ambulant disabled and wheelchair users. 

Those who receive the highest rate of PIP/DLA and have showed proof for mobility purposes will be entitled to a free carer.

Our match day programme, published in partnership with Curtis Sport, will be available from the Club Shop ahead of Friday’s game.

This issue, for the Ladbrokes Premiership fixture against Heart of Midlothian, is a 52 pager with a £3 cover price.

This latest edition includes the following:

Front Cover – Alex Jakubiak.
The Gaffer - Jim Goodwin looks back on recent games and ahead to the match-up with The Jambos.
Last Time Out - Allan Picken's pictures from St Mirren's recent fixture against Livingston.
The Opposition – Brian Corry casts an eye over Daniel Stendel's Hearts side.
St Mirren Programme Archive - Derek Drennan highlights programmes that were issued for Championship wins.
100 Seasons at the Top - Cairters Corner looks back on the start of Jim Clunie's reign as St Mirren manager.
They Played in the Stripes – David Cochran looks back on the St Mirren career of wing wizard Peter Weir.
Matchday Gallery - Pictures of the post match presentations from the recent home Scottish Cup tie against Motherwell.
English Title Winners - Liam Harding highlights the many Championship winning seasons of Everton.
Centre Page Poster – Jamie McGrath.
Fans Corner - Ticket prices, travel clubs update, match info, dates for fans to keep in their diary and introducing our match mascot.
Player Kit Sponsors 2019/20 – Check in to see who is sponsoring your favourite player's shirt for the season.
Stats and Picture Quiz - Player appearance stats and picture quiz on managers who won silverware with St Mirren.
Panda's Fun Page – Some puzzles to keep the youngsters entertained during the half-time break.
Football Bloody Hell - Alan Gallacher reviews St Mirren's position as we head into the business end of the season.
Marketing Matters – Campbell Kennedy updates on the latest events and happenings at the club's Commercial Department.
St Mirren Fixtures & Results 2019/20 – A handy reference page of all the fixtures and results for this season.
Team Lines – The two squads and match officials for Friday’s match.

To buy this issue or to place your programme subscription for the 2019/20 season click HERE.