It rained goals on a wet day in Paisley as Saints put eight past Annan Athletic in the Premier Sports Cup.
The Buddies made a blistering start, rattling in three goals inside the opening 10 minutes. Killian Phillips helped himself to a brace – including a spectacular opener – with Mikael Mandron also on target.
However, two goals from Myles Gaffney either side of the break must have had the League Two side fancying their chances of pulling off an incredible fightback. They were soon ended by Richard King's penalty and late on Mandron scored either side of Jayden Richardson's goal to complete his hat-trick before Roland Idowu rounded off the scoring.
Saints handed a debut to goalie Ryan Mullen and defender Richard King made his first start in the black and white stripes. Skipper Mark O'Hara returned from suspension with Fraser Taylor joining him in midfield, Mikael Mandron and and Scott Tanser also back in the side. Peter Urminsky, Jayden Richardson, Alex Iacovitti, Roland Idowu, Oisin Smith and Declan John all dropped to the bench. Saints League Cup winning hero Paul McGowan started for the visitors, as did fellow ex-Buddie Josh Todd.
Saints showed they meant business from the start, O'Hara having a shot deflected wide inside the first 60 seconds. The home fans only had to wait a few minutes more for the opener, some nice passing play setting up Phillips to curl one into the top corner from 20 yards. It was the same player who doubled Saints' lead with less than seven minutes on the clock, this time Phillips exchanging passes with Mandron before slotting past Gio Clarke.
The Irishman let someone else get the next goal, Taylor driving into acres of space before sliding a pass through for Mandron to fire home the third inside 10 minutes.
Goalscorers Mikael Mandron and Killian Phillips (Image: Jeff Holmes)
Clarke saved from the Frenchman as Saints looked for a fourth, Conor McMenamin clipping the bar with a fine long range effort before shooting just wide after being teed up by Jonah Ayunga.
Saints had dominated proceedings but a stark reminder that they weren't going to have things all their own way came less than 10 minutes before the break. A fine pass from Paul Smith found Myles Gaffney and he tucked it away to the delight of the band of visiting supporters behind the opposite goal. Ayunga almost restored the three goal cushion in the final seconds of the half but his header was easily saved by Clarke.
That was the forward's last involvement as he and Tanser were replaced at the break by Roland Idowu and Declan John, the latter forcing Clarke to make a save at his near post as hostilities resumed. Alex Gogic went close with a spectacular overhead kick before Annan pulled another one back, trialist Gaffney doing his chances of winning a contract no harm at all when he headed in Paul Smith's corner.
Any Annan fans dreaming of a comeback were given a rude awakening moments later when Phillips was upended in the box and Saints were awarded a penalty, King sending Clarke the wrong way from the spot as he marked his first Buddies start with a goal. That proved to be the end of Phillips' hat-trick hopes as he, McMenamin and Gogic were replaced by Richardson, Iacovitti and James Scott before play resumed.
Richard King scores from penalty spot (Image: Allan Picken)
The Buddies then bettered their earlier goal spree by finding the net four times in the final 10 minutes. It started when a tremendous cross-field past from Marcus Fraser found John at the back post and his cross was finished off by Mandron before tremendous trickery from Richardson allowed him to follow King by marking his home debut with a goal. Moments later Mandron got his hat-trick, collecting Idowu's pass before slotting the ball beyond Clarke's reach and into the bottom corner. The striker returned the favour in stoppage time, Mandron setting up Idowu for Saints' eighth and final goal.
Mikael Mandron celebrates hat-trick with matchball (Image: Allan Picken)
Full-Time: St Mirren 8-2 Annan Athletic
St Mirren: Mullen, Fraser, Gogic (Iacovitti 62), King, McMenamin (Scott 62), Phillips (Richardson 62), Taylor, O'Hara (c), Tanser (John 46), Ayunga (Idowu 46), Mandron
Subs Not Used: Urminsky, Penman, Smyth, Mooney
Annan Athletic: Clarke, Gilmour, McGowan, Todd, Smith (c), Muir, Deveney (Maxwell 64), Smith, Craik, Gaffney (Carmichael 81), Gibson
Subs Not Used: Balfour, Barlow, McDermott, Bryson, Allan
Referee: Ross Hardie
Assistant Referee: Chris Rae
Assistant Referee: Michael MacDermid
Attendance: 2,164
