St Mirren exited the Premier Sports Cup after a narrow defeat to Dundee United at Tannadice.
A first-half header from Ross Graham was enough to see the Terrors progress to the quarter-finals at the expense of Saints.
Dennis Adeniran and Caolan Boyd-Munce missed out with injuries picked up on Thursday night, while captain Mark O'Hara was still unavailable. St Mirren Youth Academy graduate Fraser Taylor made his first start for Saints, while Thursday's goalscorer Alex Iacovitti also came in. Scott Tanser, Oisin Smyth and Mikael Mandron made up the five changes with Richard Taylor, Jaden Brown and Jonah Ayunga dropping to the bench.
Saints made a bright start with Iacovitti forcing a good save from United goalkeeper David Walton. The defender was first on to a flick from Toyosi Olusanya and he powered an effort into the ground that Walton did well to push wide.
United had their first opportunity on 10 minutes with Craig Sibbald coming close with a strike from distance. Ellery Balcombe couldn't gather a cross which fell to the feet of a United player whose shot was well blocked by Tanser. But the ball came back to Sibbald who cracked a shot off the bar from 25 yards.
Mandron came close three minutes later when he met a terrific cross from Taylor. The striker craned his neck to get to it and Walton was at full-stretch to tip over the bar.
The hosts took the lead with a little over 10 minutes of the first-half remaining when Ross Graham headed home from a Will Ferry corner. Ferry stuck the ball to the near post and defender Graham got himself ahead of Balcombe to nod into the net. Balcombe had to pull off a big save on 40 minutes to deny Luca Stephenson the chance to double United's advantage.
Saints won a free-kick in a good area around 20 yards from the United goal quickly after the half-time interval. Olusanya was brought down by Graham who was subsequently shown a yellow card. Smyth took the free-kick but sent it well over. Ferry joined Graham in the book three minutes later when he took out Olusanya as the forward looked to race forward. Olusanya himself was booked a few minutes later for what referee John Beaton deemed to be simulation in the box. Mandron was quickly on to the loose ball but saw his shot blocked.
Stephen Robinson was forced into a change when Fraser Taylor went down and was replaced by Richard Taylor. That saw Gogic move into midfield. Three minutes later, on the hour mark, the manager made a triple change as he introduced Brown, James Scott and Ayunga in place of Tanser, Idowu and Mandron.
United could have killed the game off on 73 minutes when substitute Louis Moult ran on to a pass from Trapanovski. He twisted and turned before getting his shot away but smacked his strike off the bar. Taylor did brilliantly to block on the follow up to deny David Babunski the chance to roll into the net.
Brown came agonisingly close to grabbing an equaliser in injury time with his effort deflected just by the post.
Full-Time: Dundee United 1-0 St Mirren
St Mirren: Balcombe, Fraser (c) (Sutherland 82), Gogic, Iacovitti, Rooney, Idowu (Scott 60), Smyth, F.Taylor (R.Taylor 57), Tanser (Brown 61), Olusanya, Mandron (Ayunga 61)
Subs Not Used: Urminsky, Bwomono, Kenny, Mooney
Dundee United: Walton, Adegboyega, Gallagher, Graham, Ferry, Stephenson, Holt, Sibbald, Trapanovski (Middleton 86), Babunski (c) (Docherty 78), van der Sande (Moult 68)
Subs Not Used: Richards, Odada, Fotheringham, Thomson, Cleall-Harding, Ubochioma
Attendance: 4,285 (568 St Mirren supporters)
Manager Reaction
Stephen Robinson gave his reaction to our defeat to Dundee United in the Premier Sports Cup.
