Saints head into the international break following defeat to Dundee United at The SMiSA Stadium.
In a game lacking in quality, the decisive moment came from a quarter of an hour from the end. Ellery Balcombe did well to parry Ross Docherty's piledriver, but could do nothing to stop Emmanuel Adegboyega – guilty of missing a sitter in the first half – from rushing in to net the rebound.
Saints had almost made a spectacular opening to the game as Richard Taylor acrobatically sent a corner over the bar in the opening 60 seconds. However, that wasn't a sign of things to come and things soon began to settle down, Will Ferry firing an effort well over for the visitors. A Budies free-kick then almost created a chance, keeper Jack Walton opting to punch the ball rather than catch it and Caolan Boyd-Munce crossed for Killian Phillips, however he couldn't connect properly and Walton gathered.
Seconds later United should have been ahead. A free-kick was headed on by Ross Graham and everyone apart from Adegboyega seemed to stop, however he only managed a fresh air swipe at the ball and Saints scrambled it clear. There were some half-hearted penalty appeals from the home fans when Toyosi Olusanya exchanged passes with van Veen and then went down as he entered the box, but ref Ross Hardie was unmoved.
Taylor smashed over at another corner before Roland Idowu did well to fashion himself an opening, but his shot was always going wide. The opening 45 minutes were well summed up as the half drew to a close when a penalty box scramble gave Sam Dalby a sight of goal but his shot was blocked by one of his United team mates.
There were loud penalty shouts from the away fans early in the second half when Taylor blocked Luca Stephenson's header but the officials deemed it wasn't handball. Boyd-Munce then tried his luck from 25 yards and was unlucky to see his piledriver kept out by a tremendous Walton save, Olusanya unable to force home the rebound. Ellery Balcombe's had a rather more straightforward job a few moments later when it came to dealing with Stephenson's header.
Phillips curled one wide from the edge of the box as Saints threatened again, another chance coming when Mark O'Hara's corner was headed back across goal by Phillips but Olusanya could only nod over the bar.
However, with 15 minutes left it was United who took the lead, a corner dropping perfectly for Ross Docherty at the edge of the box and while Balcombe kept it out, he could do nothing as Adegboyega netted the rebound to make up for his earlier miss.
Sub James Scott turned and shot over from the edge of the box as Saints looked to respond quickly, Phillips then doing likewise from a bit closer in. Sub Oisin Smyth did find the target with his attempt but it was easy for Walton. Six minutes of stoppage time provided some hope for the Buddies but Taylor heading over from Smyth's cross was as good as it got.
Full-Time: St Mirren 0-1 Dundee United
St Mirren: Balcombe, Fraser, Gogic, Dunne (Mandron 81), R.Taylor, Phillips, Boyd-Munce (Smyth 84), O'Hara (c) (Bwomono 81), Idowu (Scott 65), Van Veen (Kiltie 65), Olusanya
Subs Not Used: Urminsky, Penman, Adeniran, Ayunga
Dundee United: Walton, Adegboyega, Gallagher, Graham (Holt 57), Stephenson, Sevelj, Docherty (c), Sibbald, Ferry, van der Sande (Middleton 38), Dalby
Subs Not Used: Richards, Babunski, Odada, Fotheringham, Thomson, Stirton, Ubochioma
Referee: Ross Hardie
Assistant Referee: Frank Connor
Assistant Referee: Paul O'Neill
Fourth Official: Duncan Nicolson
VAR: Greg Aitken
Attendance: 7,166
Manager Reaction
Watch manager Stephen Robinson's reaction to our 1-0 defeat to Dundee United.
