St Mirren brought to an end Dundee United's 100% start to the Ladbrokes Championship with a stunning 3-0 win.

Lewis Morgan scored either side of half-time to put St Mirren 2-0 ahead before Ian McShane scored his first goal for the Buddies late on to seal the terrific victory. 

Saints were dominant throughout and thoroughly deserved the three points as they moved up to third in the league.  

The game got off to a lively start with Stelios testing United goalkeeper Harry Lewis after just 40 seconds, before the visitors' Paul McMullan had a shot held by Craig Samson. 

Samson then made a terrific block to deny Scott McDonald after Saints failed to clear a corner kick. 

But, on 26 minutes, St Mirren were ahead when Morgan, who told stmirren.com before the match that he relished the big matches, proved himself to be the man for the occasion as he opened the scoring with a wonderful goal. The winger picked the ball up from Stephen McGinn on the halfway line and burst forward before unleashing a low drive beyond Harry Lewis in the Dundee United goal to put the Buddies ahead.

Saints kept on coming and almost had a second 10 minutes later. McShane stepped up to take a free-kick on the left hand side which goalkeeper Lewis spilled into the path of Gregor Buchanan. The Saints defender got a flick of his boot on it only for it to come off the post, before the offside flag was raised with Gavin Reilly waiting to pounce.

And Reilly was unlucky not to score a few moments later when he latched on to a long ball up the field. Lewis had raced off his line, but the striker didn't connect well with the strike, sending it wide.

Just before the interval McShane almost got his name on the scoresheet directly from a corner. The 24 year-old whipped it in ferociously with it bouncing off the bar and eventually being scrambled to safety. 

Half Time: St Mirren 1-0 Dundee United

Saints got the second half off to the perfect start as Morgan scored his and St Mirren's second three minutes after the break.

Again the 20 year-old broke forward and looked likely to try to emulate his first with the space there for him to have a go. Instead he played it wide to Liam Smith, with the loanee's attempted cross knocked back into the path of Morgan who composed himself before curling the ball into the far corner of the net from the edge of the box. 

Robson went close to grabbing a goal back for the visitors a few minutes later after a terrific solo run, but the shot whizzed by the post. 

In truth St Mirren were well on top with Stephen McGinn unlucky not to get on the scoresheet. A corner from central midfield partner eventually fell to the skipper who took it first time on the volley with it only just going wide.

The Buddies killed the match with just over 10 minutes to go when Ian McShane grabbed his first St Mirren goal to seal the points. Morgan did well to keep the ball in play on the right side before expertly picking out the 24 year-old. The midfielder took a touch before curling it home from the edge of the box to end a perfect day for Saints in style. 

Full Time: St Mirren 3-0 Dundee United

St Mirren: Samson, Baird, Buchanan, Eckersley, L. Smith (Kirkpatrick 86), McGinn, McShane, Stelios, Morgan (Whyte 88), C.Smith, Reilly (Stewart 89)
Subs Not Used: Stewart, O'Keefe, Duffy, Sutton  

Dundee United: Lewis, Murdoch, Durnan, Quinn, Robson, Stanton, Flood, Fyvie (N'Koyi 65), McMullan, King, McDonald
Subs Not Used: Deniz, Toshney, Edjenduele, Allardice, Dailly, Thomas

Referee: Kevin Glancy 
Assistant Referee: Joseph Lawson
Assistant Referee: David Dunne

Attendance: 4,768

Lewis Morgan can't wait for tomorrow's match against Dundee United after confessing he feels like he's at his best in big matches.

Saints host top of the table United aiming to add to the three points gained against Livingston last week.

It was the 20 year-old who grabbed the winner the last time the two sides met in Paisley, with the Buddies running out 3-2 winners. 

And he is relishing tomorrow's match in front of what will be a 4,000 strong crowd at the Paisley 2021 Stadium.

It should be a great game," Lewis told stmirren.com.

"These are the games you look forward to. It could arguably be a Premiership fixture as it has been in the recent past.

"I feel like I thrive in the bigger games and tend to do well in them. 

"They have similar ambitions to us in that they are wanting to go up.

"But I think our strongest eleven is as strong as anyones in this league so I don't think we have anything to be fearful of.

"We are playing at home and we should be trying to make this place a bit of a fortress. 

"Six points from nine at the start of the season is always tricky as teams are always trying to impress and we've had lots of new players have come in.

"It was a disappointing result at Morton, but we had 10 men.

"But going down to 10 men again last week and winning kind of shows how much we focused and learned how to regroup.

"I think overall it's been a good start to the season and the boys are settling in." 

Morgan was speaking after the news that he has been called up to the Scotland U21s for the upcoming European Championship qualifier against Holland. 

The winger was called up to the squad for the first time in March after an impressive season. 

And, following a man of the match performance in his debut for the U21s and continued good form, the 20 year-old has again been selected by Scot Gemmill for the qualifier at the Paisley 2021 Stadium. 

I'm always happy to get international recognition," he said.

"I think it's quite a big thing for the club to be producing players that are going to be playing at this level. 

"I feel I've performed quite well and I've added more goals to my game now as well.

"I'm just happy to be involved."

St Mirren host top of the table Dundee United tomorrow in the first of three home matches on the spin for the Buddies.

Saints come into the match on the back of a 3-1 win over Livingston last week at the Tony Macaroni Arena. Derby disappointment aside, it's been a decent start to the season for St Mirren with four wins from their last five matches. 

United have got off to the perfect start in the league as the only side to pick up three wins from the first three league matches. They defeated Inverness Caley Thistle 1-0 on the opening day before back-to-back home wins over Queen of the South (2-1) and Brechin City (1-0). 

Matches between the Buddies and the Arabs have been far from dull in recent times with the sides sharing 18 goals between them in their five meetings last season. 

United's strike trio last campaign consisted of Tony Andreu, Thomas Mikkelsen and Simon Murray and they accounted for eight of the side's 11 goals against Saints last season. 

While they have all moved on to pastures new, the Terrors have strengthened up top with the likes of James Keatings and the experienced Scott McDonald. United boss Ray MacKinnon has also bolstered his squad with fine additions such as Paul Quinn, Fraser Fyvie, Paul McMullan, Sam Stanton and Billy King all joining the Tannadice club this summer. 

Jack Ross' first match as St Mirren manager came against United at the Paisley 2021 Stadium last season. It wasn't to be a winning start for the gaffer though as goals from Scott Fraser and Andreu saw the visitors run out 2-0 winners. It was a much closer affair on Christmas Eve when St Mirren travelled to Tannadice. John Sutton had give the Buddies a first half lead, only for United to peg Saints back almost immediately when Fraser scored a minute later. Murray grabbed the winner on the stroke of half time as he headed home Fraser's cross.

The two would meet again in Paisley - 10 days before they were set to contest the IRN-BRU Cup at Fir Park. Saints came out on top with their first win over United since 2013. Harry Davis gave the Buddies the lead inside 90 seconds. Andreu struck for United not long after the half-hour mark, only for Stevie Mallan to put St Mirren back in front four minutes later. Lewis Morgan grabbed a vital third on the hour mark rendering Andreu's second goal 10 minutes later meaningless. 

But United would gain a measure of revenge as they saw off Saints to win the IRN-BRU Cup. Again it was Andreu who proved to be the scourge of St Mirren as he unleashed a brilliant volley put United ahead. However, Rory Loy equalised for the Buddies almost immediately to put the tie back in the balance. But with just 15 minutes to go, Danish striker Thomas Mikkelsen got above the St Mirren defence to bullet home the winner. 

There would be one final meeting with St Mirren still fighting for Ladbrokes Championship survival when they visited Dundee in late April. Like most of the matches between the two it would prove to be another goal fest. 

United took the lead in controversial circumstances after Mikkelsen appeared to foul Gary MacKenzie on his way to scoring. It was MacKenzie who got Saints on terms seven minutes before the break when he headed beyond Cammy Bell. But once again, Frenchman Andreu popped up to score his fifth goal against St Mirren when he drilled home from an indirect free-kick. Saints looked to have grabbed an all important point when substitute Josh Todd scored his first St Mirren goal with less than five minutes to go only for late heartbreak as Blair Spittal sealed all three points for the home side in injury time. 

St Mirren are still without Kyle Magennis, Harry Davis, Dale Hilson, Josh Todd and Gary MacKenzie, while Gary Irvine misses out after his red card against Livingston. Jack Baird comes back in after serving his one match suspension. 

Both sides will have aspirations of promotion this season and this match should be a good yardstick to see how each is fairing. 

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

This issue, for the Ladbrokes Championship match against Dundee United, is a 48 pager with a £3 cover price.

The latest edition includes the following:

Front Cover – Cammy Smith.
The Gaffer - St Mirren manager Jack Ross with his thoughts on recent matches and his pre-match message for the fans.
Buddies News Update – News of the latest happenings in and around the Paisley 2021 Stadium.
Last Time Out – Match report and pictures of the recent IRN-BRU Cup tie against East Kilbride.
Football, Bloody Hell – Alan Gallacher weighs in on PSG's record breaking transfer fee for Neymar.
The Opposition – Brian Corry runs the rule over Saturday's visitors, Ray McKinnon's Dundee United side.
Hall of Fame – David Cochran highlights the St Mirren career of Willie Fulton.
Player Interview – We talk with Gavin Reilly who is setting the early season pace in the goal scoring stakes.
Action Shot (Centre Pages) – Ian McShane.
SLO – John White talks about the Supporter Liaison Officer post he shares with John Allison.
Fans Corner – Ticket prices, travel clubs update, match info and dates for fans to keep in their diary.
Kit Sponsors 2017/18.
Marketing Matters – Commercial Manager, Campbell Kennedy brings us up to date with all the commercial activities within the Club.
Matchday Gallery – Pictures from the post-match presentations in the corporate suite after the recent home match against Falkirk.
St Mirren Fixtures & Results 2017/18 – A handy reference page of all the fixtures for this season.
Team Lines – The two squads and match officials for Saturday’s match.

To buy this issue or to place your programme subscription for the 2017/18 season click HERE.

At St Mirren's game against Dundee United tomorrow afternoon (26th August), the stadium will be used as a collection point for food donations for the Renfrewshire Foodbank.

Prior to the match we would ask that you bring any of the listed items below that the Foodbank so desperately needs and deposit them in the bins provided at each stand.

Boxed cereal
Tinned soup
Tinned tomatoes
Pasta sauce
Dried rice/noodles
Tinned fruit
Tinned meat
Tinned fish
Tinned potatoes
Tinned vegetables
Tinned rice/custard
Tea bags/coffee (small)
Long-life juice (1 litre)
UHT milk
jam/peanut butter/other spread
Biscuits
Chocolate/sweeties/crisps

The Foodbank is particularly short of tinned soup, tinned fruit, Long-life juice, UHT milk, cereal, tinned tomatoes, jam and tea bags/coffee, but all donations will be gratefully accepted.

All the donated foodstuff will be uplifted to be distributed to those most in need. We thank you for your support in helping with this appeal.

To learn more about the Renfrewshire Foodbank and the work that they do please visit www.renfrewshire.foodbank.org.uk.

If you live outside the UK & Ireland, St Mirren TV is your way to watch Paisley’s top football side live in action each and every home match day.

This service, which is delivered by media students from the University of the West of Scotland, will cover all of St Mirren’s home games.

As usual the St Mirren TV team will be presenting all the action from The Paisley 2021 Stadium when Dundee United are the visitors on Saturday afternoon.

If you want to tune in here is the info you will need:

St Mirren vs Dundee United
Ladbrokes Championship
Venue: Paisley 2021 Stadium, Paisley
Date: Saturday 26th August 2017
Kick-off: 3:00pm BST

To access this match day service:

1 Day Pass – €6.99 EUR
Season Pass – €69.99 EUR

To view Terms & Conditions and get started with St Mirren TV please click HERE.

For technical support with St Mirren TV please e-mail tvsupport@stmirren.com

We are giving fans the opportunity to vote for the man of the match and also put two lucky fans in with the chance of winning a £10 voucher for the Club Shop.

Every home game we’ll throw open the voting on the 60 minute mark for 20 minutes where votes can be cast on Facebook and Twitter. All you have to do is use the hashtag #SMFCMOM followed by the name of the player you are voting for, eg ‘#SMFCMOM MORGAN’.

With 10 minutes of the game remaining all the votes will be counted then the Stadium Announcer will confirm the winning player over the tannoy system.

From all the fans who nominate the winning player one will be picked at random from the Facebook account and another from the Twitter account and they will each be awarded a £10 voucher for the Club Shop. The winners will be notified through the account they posted from.

So get yourself ready on the hour mark of Saturday’s game against Dundee United and get voting with #SMFCMOM.

Paisley Panda is all set for Saturday’s match against Dundee United as he gets ready to host the ever-popular match day competition ‘Bung a Baw’.

To take part in ‘Bung a Baw’ fans need to purchase a small foam ball which is numbered and they will then have a chance to throw their ball towards our club mascot Paisley Panda in front of the Family Stand. Each person will have 60 seconds to do this and the winner will be the person who has thrown the ball closest to the feet of the Panda with the winner being confirmed over the PA system.

The competition is sponsored by The Linwood Farm Restaurant who are supplying a family meal voucher as the prize for the contest winner.

Each ball will cost £1 to buy. The balls will be available from sellers inside the Family Stand in the 30 minutes leading up to kick-off and then again in the first 5 minutes of half-time before the competition starts (subject to availability). Each ball is numbered and participants will also get a ticket with the corresponding number which they will use to claim the prize if they win.

Paisley Panda predicts that ‘Bung a Baw’ will continue to be very popular this season so he advises that you get in early tomorrow to purchase your ball to take part.

As well as taking care of ‘Bung a Baw’ Paisley Panda will be giving away sweets to the kids in and around the stadium courtesy of the Black and White Army website.

Paisley Panda has also teamed up with the St Mirren Club Shop so you will be able to buy hats and scarves for the game from the 'Bung a Baw' stands.

Paisley Panda is pleased to confirm that ‘First Scorer’ will be back for tomorrow's game against Dundee United.

‘First Scorer’ gives fans the opportunity to predict in advance of the game who they think will score St Mirren's first goal in Saturday’s match against The Tangerines.

The winner will be picked at random from those who guessed correctly and they will win a bag of a dozen doughnuts which will be delivered to your seat right after the goal is scored!

To enter all you have to do ahead of the game is post your prediction of the first St Mirren scorer on Facebook or Twitter using the hashtag #Saints1stgoal. The lucky winner will then be contacted to confirm which stand they will be in with the row and seat number so that the prize can be delivered to them.

St Mirren in the Community are delighted to confirm that the Panda Club will be open as usual for Saturday’s Ladbrokes Championship fixture against Dundee United at The Paisley 2021 Stadium.

The Panda Club will open at 1:00pm on Saturday. Parents please note that you should pick up your kids after the final whistle from the community office at 5:00pm.

Participants can look forward to pre-match football activities delivered by qualified St Mirren FC coaches between 1pm and 2:15pm inside the Airdome.

The Panda Club is open to boys and girls aged 5 to 12 years olds and costs £3 per person, the match ticket is provided FREE OF CHARGE.

For further information about the Panda Club or to book your place at the next Panda Club match day please contact Stephen Gallacher by e-mail at stephen.gallacher@stmirren.com.

Panda Club details for Saturday’s game are as follows:

St Mirren vs Dundee United
Saturday 26th August 2017
1:00pm – 5:00pm

To find out more about the Panda Club click here