St Mirren Football Club is delighted to announce that Jimmy Nicholl has joined the club as a first team coach.

The Northern Irishman joins his fellow countryman, manager Oran Kearney, at Saints.

Jimmy, who had a playing career that saw him turn out for the likes of Manchester United, Sunderland and West Brom, checks in at the Buddies after most recently being assistant manager at Rangers. 

Jimmy has also held coaches roles at the Northern Ireland national side, Falkirk, Cowdenbeath, Hibernian, Kilmarnock, Aberdeen and Dunfermline.

Speaking on joining the club, Jimmy told stmirren.com: "It's my first day today but on the evidence of what I've seen this morning there's a really good spirit about the place. 

"Oran is a young, ambitious, enthusiastic manager and you can see the drive that he has got. That enthusiasm should rub off on all the players and all the staff and that drive and determination. 

"I look forward to it," he continued. "My job will be when there are difficult times. If we are winning everyone is happy, but it's the difficult times you have to keep everyone lifted." 

St Mirren FC Community Trust would like to thank SMiSA and Paul McGrath of Consilium who have donated £500 and £700 respectively for our Festive Friends event.

In conjunction with SPFL Trust and Salvation Army, the St Mirren FC Community Trust will be hosting a 'Festive Friends' event within the Simple Digital Arena on Christmas Day.

Festive Friends is a wonderful community program created to accommodate elderly people, and those in need, who will be isolated and alone on Christmas Day.

The event has been very positively received by other partner organisations within Renfrewshire such as RAMH, Active Communities, Shelter, ROAR, Renfrewshire Foodbank and Star Project who are all keen to nominate men & women they feel will greatly benefit from experiencing the day.

Our good friends at the Salvation Army have kindly offered to partner on the day and provide the wonderful hearty festive meal for all of our special guests and the great team at SPFL Trust have agreed to award funding towards some of the costings.

This very fun-filled Christmas Day will commence at 12noon where all of our senior Buddies will be shown into the 1877 Supporters Club.

We will have live music, games & entertainment, some special legends dropping by to share funny stories and great memories of St Mirren’s history, the provision of a delicious three course Christmas dinner from the Salvation army and a visit from Father Christmas and the elves to provide a small festive gift.

The Salvation Army and all of St Mirren FC Women’s Team have kindly offered to volunteer on the day as we will require helpers in the lounge and more importantly volunteer drivers to ensure the safe pick up and drop home of our Festive Friends.

St Mirren FC Community Trust wish to invite all of the fans, local community, business partners and friends to nominate individuals they wish to attend the event and nominations are now open, simply email gayle.brannigan@stmirren.com to enter.

To add to the magic and ensure the success of the day we will require small Christmas gifts to be donated and also additional funds to be raised. The more funds we raise and the more gifts we receive the more nominations we can accept.

Should you wish to donate a gift please email gayle.brannigan@stmirren.com and to make a Festive Friends financial donation please use our JustGiving page.

Thank you for all of your support.

St Mirren are in action at the Simple Digital Arena again this weekend as we play host to Hamilton Accies in the Ladbrokes Premiership.

Saints go into Saturday's match on the back of 2-0 win over Hearts and you can be there to cheer on Oran Kearney's side as we aim to make it two wins in a row.

We have two special offers available for this weekend's match.

The first is a group offer for two adults and up to 20 Under-12s for just £44. These can be redeemed by filling out this application form and returning it to the St Mirren Ticket Office.

The second will allow free entry for one Under-12 with anyone purchasing a £22 adult ticket.

Please note these offers are only available in the Family Stand and must be redeemed by Friday 30th November at 2pm. They will NOT be available on match day. 

Any youth clubs who wish to be notified when more offers like this are available should email info@stmirren.com to be added to our mailing list.

Oran Kearney says Jim Goodwin's return to Paisley will add to the occasion of Saints' Scottish Cup draw.

The Buddies were drawn at home to Alloa in the Fourth Round of the William Hill Scottish Cup on Saturday following the win over Hearts.

It will see ex-Saint Goodwin bring his Wasps side to the Simple Digital Arena in the new year and the manager believes Goodie's return to Paisley will give the game added spice.

It will give the game extra edge," he told stmirren.com.

"I don't know Jim [Goodwin] personally but I'm sure he will come here full of pride and wanting to give a hell of an account of himself and have his team fired up accordingly. 

"I think in any competition the key thing is a home draw. Then, ideally, after that not picking up someone from your own league.

"We've obviously got both of those and it will be an exciting tie when it comes around, but there is a huge amount of football to be played."

Oran is no stranger to cup success having lifted the Irish Cup with former club Coleraine in May.

And while all focus will remain on the league until the tie comes around, the manager believes a run in the cup could prove significant for Saints.

They are hugely important and particularly with the predicament we're in it's nice to keep a cup run going alongside that as it can also filter into your league form.

"So with that it's definitely something we'll place high on our list of priorities. 

"I think the extra lift it can give to the club, players and fans with a good run can coincide with good league form.

"I would absolutely see the two fall hand-in-hand and with it being the biggest and most important cup in Scotland it's so important we give it a good go."

The cup tie against Alloa will be Saints' first match back following the Premiership winter break and Oran says the side can't be complacent.

There's a danger there as Alloa won't have a break in January and they'll come into it having played two or three weeks of Saturday games.

"We'll probably have to look at a friendly or two to make sure there is time in the legs.

"There is the possibility also by that stage that we'll have a new face or two. 

"There are shocks in the cup and it does happen so it's not a game that we'll be taking lightly."

A gallery of pictures from the Westmarch Suite following St Mirren's win over Hearts in the Ladbrokes Premiership on Saturday.

Thanks to our match sponsors Claymore Contracting Services, associate sponsor Romech and our captains armband sponsors Saltire Hospitality.

Gallery pictures by Allan Picken © - Allan Picken Photography

St Mirren have been drawn to face Alloa Athletic in the fourth round of the William Hill Scottish Cup. 

The Buddies will face Jim Goodwin's Wasps side at the Simple Digital Arena on the weekend of 19th/20th January 2019.

Ticket arrangements will be announced in due course.

Saints ended the long wait for a victory this afternoon with a fine display against Hearts in Paisley.

Adam Hammill was the hero as he bagged both goals early in the second half, the first probably finishing the country's goal of the season competitions before we've even reached the end of November as the winger found the net from 45 yards.

In doing so, it gave Oran Kearney his first win as Buddies boss.

Danny Rogers had little to do on his first league start for the club following the departure of Craig Samson. Skipper Stephen McGinn returned in place of Ryan Edwards, who was unable to play against his parent club, with Jack Baird replacing the injured Anton Ferdinand at the back. Hearts made one change to the team that lost to Kilmarnock a fortnight ago with Sean Clare starting in place of Olly Lee.

Kyle Magennis headed Hammill's early free-kick straight at Zdenek Zlamal before Hearts should have taken the lead, the unmarked Steven MacLean somehow shooting wide after Craig Wighton had helped Michael Smith's cross on to the former St Johnstone man. Anyone hoping that was a sign of things to come would be sadly mistaken with chances few and far between for both teams. Hammill did show some attacking intent at times for the Buddies, slipping the ball through for Paul McGinn only for Jimmy Dunne to get back and clear the danger.

A few crosses into the Saints box caused some momentary scares for the Buddies before they went desperately close to taking the lead, Kyle Magennis beating Clevid Dikamona to a loose ball only to see his tremendous shot hit the bar. After being booked for a foul on Michael Smith, the young midfielder was then in the right place at the other end as he nodded away Dunne's goal-bound header. Just before the break Stephen McGinn had a great chance to put Saints in front as he took advantage of Dunne's dithering but Zlamal was equal to the shot.

If the first half had been short on thrills, the second was anything but as Saints took the lead in spectacular style. As the Buddies tried to play the ball forward, it sat up nicely for Hammill and he let rip from 45 yards, the ball sailing over the head of Zlamal for a spectacular opening goal that nearly lifted the roof off the Simple Digital Arena.

But the winger wasn't done there. After resisting some Hearts pressure, Saints went back on the attack, Magennis heading the ball over Smith before crossing for Paul McGinn. The ball bounced off the fullback but fell perfectly for Hammill, who curled it beyond the reach of Zlamal into the bottom corner.

Hearts thought they'd reduced the deficit when Peter Haring sent a thumping header from sub Olly Lee's free-kick past Rogers, however the flag was up for offside. The same combination threatened again from a corner but this time Haring could only head over before Hammill went close to his hat-trick, getting the better of the Hearts defence only to lob tamely into the arms of Zlamal.

Although Hearts continued to push they created little of note and Saints could have wrapped things up late on when Paul McGinn looped a shot towards goal only for Zlamal to tip it over at the last moment. It would have made the final 10 minutes or so a little easier but there was no need to worry as Kearney's men saw things out for a much-needed win.

Full Time: St Mirren 2-0 Hearts

St Mirren: Rogers, P. McGinn, Baird, Jones, Erhahon, Hodson, S.McGinn, Magennis, McShane, Hammill (Smith 71), Jackson (Mullen 84)
Subs Not Used: Lyness, Eckersley, MacPherson, Willock, Cooke

Hearts: Zlamal, Smith, Dunne, Haring, Clare (Lee 54), Djoum, Wighton (Mulraney 45), Garuccio (Mitchell 62), Maclean, Dikamona, Morrison
Subs Not Used: Doyle, Bozanic, Lee, Mitchell, Cochrane, Mulraney, Godinho

Referee: Craig Thomson
Assistant Referee: David Roome
Assistant Referee: Drew Kirkland
Fourth Official: Craig Napier

Attendance: 5,727

Match Gallery pictures by Allan Picken © - Allan Picken Photography and John Millar - Millar Pictures

Oran Kearney gives his reaction to St Mirren's 2-0 win over Hearts at the Simple Digital Arena this afternoon.

The manager discusses getting his first win as Saints boss, how he feels for the players, that Adam Hammill goal and also reserves praise for the fans.

St Mirren are back in action following the international break with Craig Levein's Hearts the visitors to the Simple Digital Arena.

FORM

Saints come in to today's match on the back of a 1-1 draw with Dundee at Dens Park two weeks ago. 

It was the second point the Buddies have picked up since Oran Kearney's appointment as manager in September.

Simeon Jackson gave St Mirren the lead on 20 minutes when he converted from the penalty spot. But Dundee levelled through Kenny Miller 14 minutes later.

Saints had chances to win the match late on but had to settle for a point that keeps us in 11th above Dundee. 

Today's visitors Hearts had been sitting pretty at the top of the league for a number of weeks, but three games without a win saw the Jam Tarts drop to second. 

A 1-0 loss to Kilmarnock at Tynecastle before the international break came off the back of a 5-0 loss to Celtic at Celtic Park and a 0-0 draw with Hibernian in the Edinburgh derby.

The Jambos' last win came just over a month ago when they defeated Dundee 3-0 at Dens Park.

PREVIOUS

The Buddies have already faced Hearts this season - losing 4-1 to the Jambos at Tynecastle in September. 

Steven Naismith gave the home side an early lead before good work from Cammy Smith brought about an own goal to get Saints level.

Olly Lee put Hearts back in front on the half hour mark and two quick-fire goals just before half-time saw Naismith complete his hat-trick.

This is the first match between the two at the Simple Digital Arena since a 1-1 draw on the final day of the 2013/14 season. Connor Newton gave Saints a first half lead, but Dale Carrick equalised for the visitors early in the second half.

St Mirren are unbeaten at home against Hearts in our last four matches. The 2012/13 season saw Saints win both home matches against the Jambos 2-0. The following season saw both matches end 1-1.

Hearts' last victory in Paisley was in a 2012 Scottish Cup replay where goals from Jamie Hamill and Rudi Skacel saw the Jam Tarts progress.

WHAT A WIN WOULD MEAN

Saints could close the gap on 10th place Hamilton to two points with a win - providing Hamilton lose to Celtic in this afternoon's early kick-off. 

Should Hamilton take anything from today's match against Celtic, Hearts could return to the top of the league with a win over Saints.

TEAM NEWS

Ryan Edwards is unavailable for St Mirren tomorrow with Hearts his parent club. 

Danny Rogers and Dean Lyness will fight it out for the number one jersey following Craig Samson's retirement. 

Gary MacKenzie remains out. 

Hearts are still without Steven Naismith, Uche Ikpeazu, Christophe Berra and John Souttar.

St Mirren's home match against Hibernian on Saturday 26th January has been rescheduled after being selected for live coverage on Sky Sports.

The match will now take place on Sunday 27th January with a 1:30pm kick-off.

The full details for the rescheduled fixture are as follows:

St Mirren v Hibernian
Ladbrokes Premiership
Simple Digital Arena, Paisley
Sunday 27th January 2019
Live on Sky Sports, 1:30pm kick-off