St Mirren eased to victory over Arbroath in the Viaplay Cup with a strong performance at The SMiSA Stadium.
First-half goals from Mikael Mandron and Mark O'Hara had us two to the good at the interval before debutant Stav Nahmani scored twice from the bench in the second-half to secure an emphatic 4-0 victory.
Buddies boss Stephen Robinson made three changes from the side that lost to Montrose last week. Scott Tanser, Caolan Boyd-Munce and Toyosi Olusanya came in for Declan Gallagher, Conor McMenamin and Alex Greive.
Saints hit the front with just 10 minutes on the clock when Mandron scored his first Saints goal - heading Ryan Strain's cross from the right into the net.
Strain should have gone from provider to goalscorer five minutes later but he fluffed his lines after Toyosi Olusanya's effort was parried into this path. Greg Kiltie had an opportunity on the follow-up, but his effort was headed off the line.
Mandron's powerful header on 18 minutes drew a terrific save from Arbroath goalkeeper Derek Gaston. And the French forward wasn't far away again on 25 minutes after he slipped in by Olusanya and lifted his effort over Gaston but just wide of the post. The Arbroath stopper denied Mandron again 10 minutes later with another good save as Saints ramped up the pressure.
The Buddies would get their second on the stroke of half-time as captain O'Hara broke through and finished beyond Gaston to make it 2-0.
Captain Mark O'Hara - our top goalscorer with 12 last season - got his first in 2023/24 to put us 2-0 up (Image: Allan Picken)
A quiet opening to the second-half saw the visitors have their best change of the match when Craig Slater hit the post just after the hour mark.
Saints fans got their first glimpse of new signing Stav Nahmani as he came on for Caolan Boyd-Munce, while Lewis Jamieson also replaced Olusanya. And what an impression the Israeli forward made as he netted two goals in eight minutes. The first saw him burst to on a brilliantly placed Strain through ball and he scored with a neat first time finish.
The 20-year-old would grab his second with 11 minutes of normal time remaining when he raced on to a lovely low pass from Jamieson, rounded Gaston and slotted into the net.
It was the perfect first impression as Saints got off and running in Group H of the Viaplay Cup.
Full-Time: St Mirren 4-0 Arbroath
St Mirren: Hemming, Fraser, Gogic, Dunne, Strain, Kiltie (Gallagher 44), O'Hara (c), Boyd-Munce (Nahmani 63), Tanser, Olusanya (Jamieson 63), Mandron
Subs Not Used: Urminsky, R.Taylor, Kenny, Sutherland, Penman, Jamieson, Greive, Nahmani
Arbroath: Gaston, Steele (Gold 23), Stewart, Little, O'Brien (c), Slater, Balde, Stowe, McKenna (McIntosh 70), Bird (Turan 70), Dow
Subs Not Used: Adams, Jacobs, Allan
Referee: Graham Grainger
Assistant Referee: David Roome
Assistant Referee: Gordon McCabe
Attendance: 2,059 (139 away)
