St Mirren travel through to Falkirk tomorrow afternoon in search of their first three points of the season.

Jack Ross' side come into the match following Tuesday night's 5-1 win over Lowland League side Spartans in the third round of the Scottish Cup.

The Buddies have already faced the Bairns this season with Tom Walsh's 87th equaliser rescuing a point in a 1-1 draw at the Paisley 2021 Stadium at the start of October. Craig Sibbald had given Falkirk an early lead when his 9th minute free kick deflected off the Saints wall and beyond Jamie Langfield. With the clock running out loanee Walsh picked up the ball from deep in the Falkirk half before driving toward goal and rifled in an effort from outside the box. 

Saints failed to beat Falkirk in four league meetings last season, with the Bairns winning three and the other ending in a 0-0 draw. The first contest between the two looked to be heading for a Buddies win when goals from Scott Agnew and Stephen Mallan had the Buddies 2-0 ahead at half time. But Falkirk completed a second half fightback when John Baird scored in the 92th minute to steal all three points.

Late goals seem to be a common theme in these matches in the recent past and again that was the case when Saints last visited the Falkirk Stadium back in April. Two Stephen Mallan goals, the second coming in the 82nd minute, looked to have given St Mirren a point as the end of the season drew near. But Blair Alston struck in the 90th minute to snatch a 3-2 win in the Bairns' favour. 

Falkirk currently sit in fifth place in the Ladbrokes Championship with 22 points from 14 matches. The Bairns were unbeaten in the month of November drawing with Morton and Hibs, while beating Ayr United at Somerset Park. Their last defeat at the Falkirk Stadium came in October when Raith Rovers defeated them 4-2. 

St Mirren's last league victory at the Falkirk Stadium came back in 2009 when goals from Craig Dargo, Billy Mehmet and Tom Brighton secured a 3-1 win for the Buddies. 

For Saints, the aim will be to try to get that first league win of the season and look towards closing the gap with the teams that currently sit above the Buddies in the table. For Falkirk, they'll be aiming to move themselves back into a play-off place as they look to go one further than they did last season and could potentially do that with a win.

All the matchday info can be found here

Tomorrow afternoon (Saturday 3rd December), St Mirren head to The Falkirk Stadium to face Falkirk and then next Tuesday evening Saints are on the road again when they make the midweek journey to Dumfries for a Ladbrokes Championship match-up with Queen of the South at Palmerston Park.

The info on Travel Clubs heading to Falkirk and/or Dumfries for these matches is as follows:

Cockles Wilson Supporters Bus

Falkirk v St Mirren - 03/12/2016

We are leaving at 1.30pm for the game at Falkirk.

Bus tickets are available in the Bankhouse.

Queen of the South v St Mirren - 06/12/2016

We are sharing a bus with The Tile Bar for this match and we will leave Abercorn Street at 5:15pm.

Anyone looking for a ticket for the bus can contact Fraser Burns directly on 07788 291 571 as there are no tickets on sale from the bar.

Tile Bar Supporters Bus

Falkirk v St Mirren - 03/12/2016

The bus for the match at Falkirk will leave at 1:30pm.

Bus tickets for this match are now on sale.

Queen of the South v St Mirren - 06/12/2016

The bus going to Dumfries for the Queen of the South game will leave at 5:15pm.

Bus tickets for this match are now on sale.

Chivas Travel Club

Falkirk v St Mirren - 03/12/2016

The bus for Falkirk will leave the Court Bar at 1:30pm.

Tickets for the bus are now available from the Court Bar.

Queen of the South v St Mirren - 06/12/2016

We are sharing a bus with the North End Travel Club for this match.

The bus is expected to leave the Court Bar at 5:30pm but roadworks may be an issue so please check with the Court Bar for a confirmed departure time when purchasing your ticket for the bus.

Tickets for the bus are now available from the Court Bar.

North End Travel Club

Falkirk v St Mirren - 03/12/2016

The bus going to Falkirk will leave the Sneddon at 1:15pm.

Bus tickets available in the Brewers Tap, £6 each.

Queen of the South v St Mirren - 06/12/2016

We are sharing a bus with the Chivas Travel Club for this match.

The bus is expected to leave the Court Bar at 5:30pm.

 * Valid ID must be produced as proof of status

** Maximum of 4 per paying adult

Additional Information

Tomorrow, Saturday 3rd December, St Mirren head to Falkirk to face Falkirk in the Ladbrokes Championship.

The gate prices have now been confirmed for the fixture at The Falkirk Stadium and these are shown above.

The referee tomorrow is Craig Thomson and he will be assisted by Dougie Potter and Alan Hogg.

For directions to The Falkirk Stadium click here

Lawrence Shankland was pleased with his contribution in the win over Spartans, but was happy enough to get himself a start and a full 90 minutes on the pitch never mind the two goals he scored.

The striker has been in and out of the side this season, but started in Tuesday night's emphatic 5-1 win over the Lowland League side in the 3rd round of the Scottish Cup.

And the 21 year-old loanee done his prospects of more first team starts no harm as he scored with two good finishes to open and finish Saints' scoring in the rout.

We're obviously pleased to be through to the next round," he said, speaking to stmirren.com. "It was obviously a good result for us. We knew Spartans would come and try to make it tough for us, get behind the ball and I felt we moved it well and managed to break them down. 

"No matter what game you're playing in you need to try and find the net as much as you can. With all due respect to Spartans they are in the lower leagues and we were expected to beat them, so we had to make sure when we got into positions that we moved the ball well and were clinical with our chances and I felt we were. 

"I felt I done alright. Getting two goals was a bonus and it was good to get back in a starting position and get 90 minutes under my belt so I was pleased with that. 

"The first one was a great ball from Kyle [McAllister] and I've managed to bring it down on my chest and put it away. Then the second one I managed to cushion the header to set me up to run through one-on-one and I just dinked the goalkeeper. I was happy with the two finishes."

With Spartans out of the way, the Saints will face Dundee in the 4th round in a match that Shankland says the team is eagerly anticipating.

They're a top league team, it's a good draw and we're looking forward to it."

After the cancellation of the game against Spartans last Saturday, and the many comments that followed via emails, message boards and on social media I thought it may be of interest to our supporters to know the events that led to the game being called off and what we learned from both this and the aftermath. 

To me this is a perfect example of the challenges involved in trying to satisfy all our supporters in the age of instant media, whilst trying our best to do what is in the best financial interests of the football club. 

Very soon after we took over at the club I was informed by our Groundsman that the undersoil heating was not working properly. As you might appreciate these systems have limited suppliers who know how to maintain and service the system properly and the only company that appears to know how the entire system works is a one man business based in Hull. 

We eventually managed to schedule him in to service the system in early October. At that service call we were told by the engineer that various items were beyond simple repair and that he could not get the system operational during that visit. 

We requested a full report and estimate to see if our insurance would cover the repairs. We eventually received that report and our insurance organised a loss adjuster to come and see if we were covered. That visit took place earlier this week. 

We are now waiting on an answer from the loss adjuster but in the meantime we have had someone local have a look at the system for their thoughts on whether they can maintain it and repair it and are awaiting further information from them. 

It is worthwhile at this point to outline a few facts regarding undersoil heating and its running costs. 

The undersoil heating system costs around £1000 a day to run and in normal circumstances it needs to be on from the Wednesday to the Saturday to ensure that the pitch is perfectly playable. In other words it can cost around £4000 purely in fuel and running costs to make sure the pitch is playable on a match day. The system has three heat settings, two that will keep the pitch from freezing and one that will melt surface snow. 

We have a club meeting on the Wednesday morning before every Saturday home game and at each of the last 3 meetings we discussed whether we would have turned on the heating for each of those games. With very small travelling supports expected in those games, and with TV scheduling affecting the crowds we estimated that we would be lucky to break even for those specific matches, even before factoring in the cost of pitch heating. 

It was therefore agreed that we would not have turned the heating on even had the system been fully functional. As such we unanimously agreed that the best course of action was to follow due process with the insurance company rather than embarking on potentially costly emergency repairs at this time. 

The undersoil heating is of course a valuable asset to the club and one that we need to get fully functional as we cannot afford to risk losing a high earning Saturday game to frost. If the insurance won't cover the cost then we will request that SMiSA ask their members if they would consider this for their next discretionary fund spend. 

So that is a full, transparent summary of where we have been and where we are now with regard the undersoil heating. 

As ever there are lessons to learn from these events. 

We have agreed that we need to dust down the pitch covers that we used successfully for so many years at Love Street. We will evaluate the condition of these and establish if we need to purchase new ones to at least give us an option to try and protect the pitch as best as possible for games like the last 3. Whilst the covers are nowhere near as effective as the undersoil heating in extreme weather they will give us an option where turning the heating on is not financially viable, so at least giving us a chance of getting the game on. 

We have agreed that we will create and agree a clear plan of action in our pre-match team meetings aimed at mitigating the possible effects of inclement weather at the next home game. 

We realise that communication is also key when dealing with possible and actual match cancellations and we will adopt a clear communication policy in this regard using email, social media and of course our own website to give clear advice to all supporters. 

Thank you again for your time, patience and support. As a new board we are learning all the time and trying our level best to improve all aspects of the club both on and off the pitch. We will make mistakes along the way but as you can see things aren't always quite as straightforward as they seem on the surface and we will always take decisions that we think are in the best interests of the club as a whole. 

Hope to see as many of you as possible at Falkirk on Saturday. 

The St Mirren FC 2017 Calendar signing will take place at the Paisley 2021 Stadium on Thursday 8 December 2016. 

Jack Ross and his players will be at the stadium from 6-7pm on the 8th to sign calendars and meet supporters. 

Calendars can be purchased on the night or from the club shop prior to the signing.

The club shop will be open from 10am right through until 7pm on Thursday the 8th and will provide Saints fans with the ideal chance to get some Christmas shopping done early. 

Kyle McAllister was on cloud nine last night after scoring his first senior goal for St Mirren in the 5-1 win over Spartans in the 3rd round of the Scottish Cup.

The young winger put the Saints 3-0 up heading into half time with a magnificent solo and the 17 year-old admitted that it felt great to get his first senior goal.

It felt amazing - best feeling ever," he explained. "I had a feeling before the game that it was going to come today and it did in a good way. 

"When I was running I felt as if there was no defenders there and I could just keep going with it as if they were backing off. When I got to the edge of the box they kept backing off so I took a touch out wide and then hit it. But I can't actually remember it going in because I fell, so I've not actually saw it hit the net then I just heard the crowd."

Kyle has impressed since coming into the team and was a stand out again last night - not only scoring - but setting up Lawrence Shankland's first goal with a fantastic through ball. 

I thought I was okay," he said. "I was looking to play as many through balls as I could and try to get as many goals as we could. Some of them didn't work, but the one for Lawrence did and I just kept trying. But I thought I played well. I could've done a bit better with my end product but I thought I did well. 

It's amazing that he [Jack Ross] is trusting me and Kyle Magennis - young boys. But i just need to keep playing as well as I'm doing and hopefully kick on from there."

With a trip to face Dundee at Dens Park in the 4th Round coming up in January, Kyle says he's excited about getting the chance to test himself against a team playing in the top league.

I'm looking forward to it, playing against better players and seeing how I do against them."

Manager Jack Ross gives us his thoughts on the 5-1 win over Spartans in the Scottish Cup which sets up a fourth round tie with Ladbrokes Premiership side Dundee.

Saints cruised into the fourth round of the Scottish Cup this evening with a comfortable and confidence boosting win over Spartans.

The first half was more like a goal of the season competition for the Buddies. Lawrence Shankland scored with a tremendous shot after being set up by Kyle McAllister before Stevie Mallan curled one in from 25 yards. The third saw McAllister open his first team account, beating three Spartans defenders before cracking home a shot from the edge of the box.

The goals after the break weren't quite as spectacular but just as effective. John Sutton netted after Kyle Magennis' shot had been saved before Shankland got his second with a cool finish. The only blot on the copybook came when Jack Beesley pulled one back for the visitors but it was a minor bump on the road as Saints set up a trip to Dundee in the New Year.

Shankland was back in the team at the expense of David Clarkson, who dropped to the bench, while Gary MacKenzie started in defence in place of Jack Baird. He was on the bench and he was joined by the fit-again Rocco Quinn and youngster Kalvin Orsi. There was a familiar face in the Spartans team with former Buddie Eddie Malone starting for the visitors.

Sutton played for Saints the last time the two sides met more than a decade ago and he had the first chance after a few minutes, bringing the ball down before firing over from the edge of the box. After McAllister failed to find the target with a few long range efforts, he fared rather better when he turned provider. Shankland brilliantly controlled the young winger's pass on his chest before lashing the ball into the top corner, giving goalie Blair Carswell no chance.

Saints had dominated the opening exchanges and it didn't take long for them to double their lead in equally spectacular style. Jason Naismith's cross was only cleared as far as Mallan and the midfielder took a touch before curling a low shot past Carswell from 20 yards. It should perhaps have been three a few minutes after the restart, however Lewis Morgan's tame shot with his weaker right foot was no problem for Carswell.

It was McAllister's turn to add his name to the scoresheet with little more than half an hour played. A rare Spartans foray forward ended when Alan Brown's shot was blocked by his own team-mate. As they tried to recover, McAllister picked up the ball and charged past three defenders before unleashing a thunderbolt from the edge of the box that flew into the net via the underside of the bar. It was the youngster's first senior goal and fully deserved.

There was little let-up from the hosts, a short corner ending with Mallan curling a shot wide and early in the second half Sutton shot straight at Carswell after good work from Mallan. Spartans had introduced Scott Maxwell at the break and were getting into the final third a bit more, a promising attack ending when Brown shot over from 20 yards. They went even closer when Scott Gallacher, who'd had little to do, charged out of his goal to try to get to the ball and was only able to watch as Paul Thomson lifted it over his head, however Ben Gordon was on hand to clear that and the follow-up effort from Brown off the line.

Saints were producing some nice passing stuff, McAllister just unable to find Sutton before a sweeping move resulted in Mallan testing Carswell. That was swiftly followed by Quinn making a welcome return from injury as he replaced Gordon. His first involvement was to watch as Mallan took a free-kick that would have had Carswell worried had it not clipped the wall.

It merely delayed the inevitable as Saints added the fourth just after the hour mark. A few shots were blocked before Kyle Magennis got in a fierce effort that Carswell did well to stop, however the ball bounced up perfectly for Sutton to nod home. The goal also spelled the end of MacKenzie's night as he was replaced by Baird.

Sutton was involved again when Saints notched up their fifth, flicking the ball on for Shankland who strolled away from the Spartans defence before coolly finishing past Carswell. The on-loan forward was unlucky not to complete his hat-trick moment later as another ball over the top caught out the Spartans defence. Shankland tried to round Carswell but the keeper got just enough on the ball to divert it back onto the striker with enough pace that it then bounced behind.

The home defence had had little to do all evening but the chance of a rare clean sheet vanished with less than 20 minutes left. Gallacher did well to save the initial shot from Jamie Dishington but could do little as sub Jack Beesley netted the rebound to give the visitors some consolation. However, the five goal lead could have been restored almost immediately, Morgan picking out Sutton with a great cross but Carswell saved the header, the Englishman then making way so that Orsi could make his senior debut.

Spartans almost pulled another one back when the ball broke kindly for Brown at the edge of the box but he shot over before Carswell pulled off a tremendous save to deny Magennis, who almost claimed an assist in stoppage time when Orsi headed wide from his cross.

St Mirren: Gallacher, Naismith, Gordon (Quinn, 59), MacKenzie (Baird, 63), Irvine, McAllister, Mallan, Magennis, Morgan, Sutton (Orsi, 82), Shankland
Subs Not Used: Langfield, McLear, Gallagher, Clarkson

Spartans: Carswell, Herd, Townsley, Tolmie (Salutregi, 74), Thomson, Malone, Brown, Stevenson, Mair, (Maxwell, 45) Hay (Beesley, 63), Dishington
Subs Not Used: Gilpin, Watson, Ward, Comrie

Referee: Kevin Graham
Assistant Referee: Stephen Mitchell
Assistant Referee: Ross Hardie

Attendance: 1,147

Match report pictures by Allan Picken – © Allan Picken Photography.

Match Gallery Pictures by John Millar - © millarpictures

Jack Ross makes two changes from the side that lost to Dunfermline in the Ladbrokes Championship.

Gary MacKenzie returns from injury in place for Jack Baird, while David Clarkson drops out to be replaced by Lawrence Shankland.

Rocco Quinn is on the bench after a spell out injured and there's also a place amongst the substitutes for Development Squad striker Kalvin Orsi who has impressed the manager in training.

Kick off is at 8pm as the Saints look to progress to the fourth round of the Scottish Cup and set up a meeting with Premiership side Dundee.

St Mirren XI: Gallacher, Naismith, Gordon, MacKenzie, Irvine, McAllister, Mallan, Magennis, Morgan, Sutton, Shankland
St Mirren Subs: Langfield, Baird, Quinn, McLear, Gallagher, Clarkson, Orsi