St Mirren's 2024/25 got off to the perfect start with a brilliant opening day victory over Hibernian.
An early second-half goal from Roland Idowu was followed up by two goals in two minutes for substitute Oisin Smyth as Stephen Robinson's men won 3-0.
The manager made two changes from the side that defeated Valur 4-1 in the UEFA Conference League on Thursday night. Captain Mark O'Hara missed out with a knock and was replaced by the returning Caolan Boyd-Munce. Scott Tanser also came in for Jaden Brown to make his first competitive start of the new season.
The Buddies had a good early opportunity when Jonah Ayunga flashed an effort just by the far post on six minutes. But in truth it was Hibernian who would have the better of the opening 45. Dylan Vente will feel he should have put the visitors ahead when he failed to get the proper connection on a ball to the back post. The Hibees forward passed up another good chance when he prodded an Obita cross wide.
Toyosi Olusanya did brilliantly on 35 minutes to shake off a foul in the middle of the park to burst forward. He slid the ball out to Idowu who saw his strike deflected just by the post.
Saints goalkeeper Ellery Balcombe made a brilliant save to keep the scores level heading into the half-time break. Alex Gogic sliced his attempted clearance and almost turned it into the net, but Balcombe was alert and down quickly to push away.
The Buddies got off to the ideal start to the second-half when Idowu netted three minutes after the restart. The loanee played a nice one-two with half-time substitute Jaden Brown before making his way into the box. He cut by Nathan Moriah-Welsh and fired a beautiful strike into the far corner of the net.
A lengthy delay ensued shortly after the goal when VAR became non-operational. VAR would become partially operational around 10 minutes later after Saints had introduced Mikael Mandron and James Scott in place of Ayunga and Toyosi Olusanya.
Hibernian passed up a huge chance to equalise on 74 minutes when Richard Taylor misjudged the flight of the ball which allowed Martin Boyle to get in behind the Saints defence. The Australian international's shot at Balcombe was weak though and the Buddies managed to get clear. Just a minute later, Saints almost killed the game off when Idowu was agonisingly close to scoring his second with a similar strike to his first. This time, on his left foot, Idowu cracked his effort off the post and substitute Smyth knocked over on the follow up.
Smyth wouldn't have to wait too long to make amends when he headed home our second. It was great work from James Scott who slid in to steal a poor back pass from Ekpiteta before sending back in to the area for Smyth to head into the net. The midfielder scored just a minute later to extend our advantage when he was once again the recipient of a Scott assist. Smyth swept home the forward's perfect pick out to ensure a brilliant opening day win at The SMiSA Stadium.
Full-Time: St Mirren 3-0 Hibernian
St Mirren: Balcombe, Fraser (c), Gogic, R.Taylor (Iacovitti 87), Rooney, Adeniran (Smyth 71), Boyd-Munce, Idowu, Tanser (Brown 46), Olusanya (Scott 62), Ayunga (Mandron 62)
Subs Not Used: Urminsky, Kenny, Bwomono, F.Taylor
Hibernian: Bursik, Obita, O'Hora, Ekpiteta, Miller, Campbell, Newell (c), Moriah-Welsh (Amos 73), Molotnikov (Cadden 62), Vente (Kukharevych 73), Boyle
Subs Not Used: Smith, Bushiri, Megwa, Levitt, Tavares, McKirdy
Referee: Matthew MacDermid
Assistant Referee: Daniel McFarlane
Assistant Referee: Gordon McCabe
Fourth Official: Colin Whyte
VAR: Alan Mulvanny
Attendance: 6,171
Manager Reaction - "It's always to good to get started with a win."
Stephen Robinson gives his reaction to today's 3-0 victory at home to Hibernian on the opening day.
