St Mirren head to Dumfries on Saturday afternoon to face Queen of the South in Group G of the Betfred Cup.

Jim Goodwin's side got their cup campaign up and running on Wednesday night with a 4-1 win over Partick Thistle at St Mirren Park.

Richard Tait, Jon Obika and Dylan Connolly all scored as Saints ended a run of six defeats in a row and picked up three points on match one.

Queen of the South played their first competitive match since March on Tuesday night when they faced Greenock Morton in their Betfred Cup opener. The Doonhamers came from behind twice at Cappielow to earn a 2-2 draw before picking up the bonus point in the penalty shoot-out. 

Match Details

Queen of the South v St Mirren
Competition: Betfred Cup
Date: Saturday 10th October
Kick-off: 3pm
Venue: Palmerston Park

Can I watch the match?

The match will be available to St Mirren supporters on PPV for £10. More details on how to purchase are available on the Queen of the South website.

Season ticket holders and international subscribers to St Mirren TV will only be able to access live audio commentary of the match from 2:50pm.

Previous

Saturday's match will be the first time St Mirren and Queen of the South have faced since St Mirren's promotion to the Scottish Premiership in 2018.

The Buddies faced Queen of the South four times in the 2017/18 on their way to winning the Championship and came out on top on all four occasions. 

Indeed, Saints have won on their four previous trips to Palmerston spanning the 2016/17 and 2017/18 seasons - winning 3-2 & 2-0 in 2016/17 and 3-2 & 3-1 in 2017/18. 

Manager's thoughts

"There have been some upsets already in the cup and it was no surprise that Partick made it as difficult for us the other night as they did. We expect no different from Queen of the South. 

"I watched Queen of the South's game against Morton during the week. I thought a draw was probably a fair result given the way the game went. Queen of the South have some players in their ranks that can cause you problems with Stephen Dobbie being the main one.

"It's going to be a difficult game and we will have to approach it in the right manner and be professional. It would be nice to go and win again tomorrow and take some confidence into some big league games coming up."

Team news

Jim Goodwin says he has no injury concerns from the team that played on Wednesday night and confirmed that he hopes to have Kristian Dennis and Ryan Flynn back involved with the squad in the next week to 10 days.

Who are the officials?

William Collum is the man in the middle on Saturday. He is assisted by Graeme Stewart and Graham McNeillie. 

St Mirren stuck four goals past Partick Thistle to get off to a winning start in Group G of the Betfred Cup.

Richard Tait's diving header bang on half-time gave Saints the lead at the interval. But Jim Goodwin's men were pegged back on 65 minutes when Partick substitute Blair Spittal levelled. 

Jon Obika got Saints back in front with 15 minutes remaining before two goals in a minute from Joe Shaughnessy and Dylan Connelly sealed a 4-1 win for the Buddies.

Saints had the first real opportunity in the opening minutes with Lee Erwin having an effort held by Partick goalkeeper Jamie Sneddon. But the League One side were certainly up for making a game of it and had two terrific chances to take the lead inside the first 15 minutes. First, Shea Gordon managed to race clear of the St Mirren defence but was denied by Jak Alnwick who got strong hands to the shot to push away. Then, on 15 minutes, Marcus Fraser made a wonderful last-gasp clearance on the line to stop Brian Graham making it 1-0 after the Thistle forward had gotten his shot away underneath Alnwick. Indeed, Graham was convinced the effort had crossed the line but TV replays showed Fraser had just scrambled clear.

With 10 minutes of the half remaining Thistle went close twice in the space of a minute with an excellent recovery challenge from Tait blocking Gordon. From the resultant corner Brian Graham's header had to be cleared off the line by Ethan Erhahon. 

Half-time was approaching and it looked poised to be stalemate at the break, but Saints grabbed a goal with the final action of the half when Tait got low to head home a Jamie McGrath corner. 

The game was still finely balanced into the second-half and Thistle should have been level on the hour mark when Conor Murray was found in acres of space inside the Buddies box. But the forward nodded his header weakly into the arms of Alnwick. 

Four minutes later Saints could have scored a second and wrapped up the win when McGrath had beaten Sneddon from edge of the box but his effort cracked off the post. And how quickly a game can turn as Partick found an equaliser less than 60 seconds later. Blair Spittal, who had just signed for Partick on loan earlier in the afternoon knocked home from inside the box to level.

The Buddies would, however, find themselves back ahead 10 minutes later when substitute Kyle McAllister threaded a lovely ball through for Jon Obika. The forward beat the defender and slid home from close range to score his 15th goal for Saints.

With less than 10 minutes remaining, Saints added a third to secure the win. Joe Shaughnessy looked to have got the final touch before Rhys Breen's touch took it over the line. And then, almost instantly, the shine was put on the win as Dylan Connolly slammed home a neat effort from just inside the box to round-off a solid win for Jim Goodwin's side. 

Full-Time: St Mirren 4-1 Partick Thistle

St Mirren: Alnwick, Tait, Shaughnessy, Fraser, Morias (McAllister 59), MacPherson (Foley 77), Sheron (Connolly 59), Erhahon, McGrath, Obika (Jamieson 84), Erwin (Durmus 77)
Subs Not Used: Lyness, Urminsky

Partick Thistle: Sneddon, Williamson (McKenna 75), Penrice, Brownlie, Cardle (Spittal 61), Bannigan, Graham (Kouider-Aissa 84), Gordon, Breen, Murray (Lyons 75), Docherty (c)
Subs Not Used: Scullion, Rudden, Reilly, Niang, Rodden

Referee: Colin Steven
Assistant Referee: Paul O'Neill
Assistant Referee: Kevin McElhinney

JIM GOODWIN REACTION 

Saints are back in action this Wednesday evening as we host League One side Partick Thistle at St Mirren Park for the first of our Group G fixtures in the BetFred Cup.

We have a limited edition run of programmes, published in partnership with Curtis Sport, for the behind closed doors cup tie played on Wednesday 7th October.

This issue is a 32 pager with a £3 cover price.

This latest edition includes the following:

Front Cover – Conor McCarthy.
Jim Goodwin - The Saints gaffer looks back on recent outings and ahead to Wednesday's BetFred Cup tie against the Jags.
The Opposition – Running the rule over Ian McCall's Partick Thistle side.
Game Rewind Gallery – A pictorial look back to the game between Saints and the Jags on 9th November 2013.
St Mirren Programme Archive - Derek Drennan reviews programmes from previous League Cup match-ups between St Mirren and Partick Thistle.
Centre Page Poster – Ethan Erhahon.
Player Kit Sponsors 2020/21 – Check in to see who is sponsoring your favourite player's shirt for the season.
Marketing Matters – Campbell Kennedy updates on the latest events and happenings at the club's Commercial Department.
Yesterday's Saints – David Cochran looks back on the St Mirren career of Mark Fulton.
Football Bloody Hell - Alan Gallacher tries to work out what now qualifies as a handball in football, especially in the penalty-area.
St Mirren Fixtures & Results 2020/21 – A handy reference page of all the fixtures and results for this season.
Team Lines – The two squads and match officials for Wednesday's match.

To buy this issue or to place your programme subscription for the 2020/21 season click HERE.

St Mirren take on Partick Thistle in the Betfred Cup on Wednesday night with the match exclusively live on St Mirren TV.

St Mirren season ticket holders will be able to watch the match for free on tv.stmirren.com as a thank you for the ongoing support.

Coverage of tomorrow’s match will feature our usual pre-match show with Ali de Foy, starting at 7:30pm. Ali will be joined by a special guest and our commentary team will be joined by ex-St Mirren and Partick Thistle defender Tommy Turner.

Non-season ticket holders and Partick Thistle fans who wish to watch the match can do so on ppv.stmirren.com for just £10.

St Mirren Football Club is delighted to announce the signing of Brandon Mason on loan from Coventry City subject to clearance.

Brandon joins until the end of the season with Coventry retaining the option to recall the defender in January. 

The 23 year-old becomes our second deadline day signing after the club announced Daniel Finlayson earlier this evening. 

A graduate of the Watford youth academy, Brandon played twice for the Hornets in the English Premier League before joining Dundee United on loan.

After leaving Watford in 2018, Brandon joined Coventry City where he has made 46 appearances - 17 of which came last season as the Sky Blues secured promotion to the English Championship.

St Mirren Football Club is delighted to announce the signing of Daniel Finlayson on a season-long loan from Rangers FC with an option to buy at the end of the season for an undisclosed fee subject to clearance.

Capped by Northern Ireland at U19 level, the 19-year-old defender joins Jim Goodwin’s side after ending his loan spell at USL Championship side Orange County SC.

St Mirren Football Club firmly believes in carrying out business in the correct manner and keeping fans accurately informed, as such the club can confirm that it has today reluctantly agreed a deal with Hibernian Football Club for the transfer of Kyle Magennis.

The club had been working for over a year on a new deal for Kyle and offered him a new four-year deal on improved terms, however, it became increasingly clear that Kyle saw his future away from St Mirren.

After the initial approaches from Hibernian were rejected, Kyle made it clear to the club his desire to move. With this in mind the club made the difficult decision to accept an improved offer and allow Kyle to make the move.

The club shares the disappointment that the fans and all connected with St Mirren will be feeling with this news.

The club would like to place on record its thanks to Kyle for all the contributions he made in his time at St Mirren and wish him the very best for his future.

St Mirren were cruelly defeated by Aberdeen as Lewis Ferguson's injury time effort sealed a 2-1 win for the Dons.

Ethan Erhahon's first league goal had given Saints the lead before Marley Watkins levelled for the home side. With time ebbing away Ferguson netted in injury time from just outside the box to win it for Aberdeen.

Marley Watkins raced through and managed to shrug off Conor McCarthy. He found himself at the byline but his attempted cut-back was blocked by Jak Alnwick before McCarthy got clear. 

Alnwick was called into action again four minutes later when he made a good save to deny Scott Wright from the edge of the area. Niall McGinn was on to the follow-up but McCarthy put his body on the line to block what looked likely to be the opener. 

Alnwick was busy again as the Saints goalkeeper got down well to push away Lewis Ferguson's powerful 20 yard drive on 18 minutes. 

Saints were well in the match and went close twice in the space of a minute on the half-hour mark. Lee Erwin sent Jon Obika on his way with a flick on from Alnwick's goal kick. The forward held of the Dons defence to go through but Aberdeen's Tommie Hoban did well to block Obika's effort and send it wide. Then, moments later, a Cammy MacPherson strike was deflected just over Joe Lewis' cross bar.

Erwin was causing Aberdeen problems and went close himself on 37 minutes when he was found in space at the back post. The striker met the ball but his effort, from a tight angle, was held by Lewis.

Jim Goodwin would have been asking for more of the same at the break and Saints' positive performance was met by a goal nine minutes into the second-half. St Mirren Youth Academy graduate Ethan Erhahon scored his first league goal for Saints with an unbelievable strike from distance. The 19 year-old met MacPherson's touch and rattled it into the top corner from 22 yards with Lewis rooted to the spot. 

It was no less than Saints deserved with Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes making changes by bringing on Connor McLennan and Ryan Edmondson for Scott Wright and Niall McGinn. The changes seemed to spark the Dons into life and they levelled with less than 20 minutes to go when Marley Watkins drove home from just inside the box after a near bit of play from the home side.

Saints looked like they were about to earn a well-deserved point but Ferguson's injury time effort cruelly snuck beyond Alnwick to give Aberdeen all three points.

Full-Time: Aberdeen 2-1 St Mirren

St Mirren: Alnwick, Shaughnessy (c), McCarthy, Sheron, Obika, MacPherson, McGrath, Morias, Fraser, Erwin, Erhahon
Subs Not Used: Lyness, Jamieson, Durmus, McAllister

Aberdeen: Lewis, Hoban, Considine, McGinn (Edmondson 63), Hedges (McGeouch 90), Taylor (Anderson 87), Hayes, Ferguson, Wright (McLennan 63), McCrorie, Watkins
Subs Not Used: Cerny, Logan, Ojo, McGeouch, Hernandez, MacKenzie

Referee: Gavin Duncan
Assistant Referee: Graeme Leslie
Assistant Referee: Graham Chambers
Fourth Official: Alan Muir

St Mirren make the journey to Aberdeen on Friday night to face the Dons at Pittodrie in the Scottish Premiership.

Match Details

Aberdeen v St Mirren
Competition: Scottish Premiership
Date: Friday 2nd October
Kick-off: 7:45pm
Venue: Pittodrie Stadium

Can I watch the match?

Season ticket holders and UK & Ireland based St Mirren TV subscribers will be able to listen to live audio commentary on tv.stmirren.com or alternatively they can watch the match for £12.99 as part of Aberdeen's pay-per-view offering.

International subscribers to St Mirren TV will be able to watch the match live as part of their subscription. 

Last season

Saints faced Aberdeen four times last season - winning one, drawing one and losing twice. 

Ilkay Durmus' first St Mirren goal gave the Buddies a first league win over Aberdeen since 2011 when the sides met for the first time last season.

Aberdeen won 2-1 when Saints travelled to Pittodrie in November, with Tony Andreu missing a late penalty which would have grabbed a share of the spoils for Jim Goodwin's side.

Neither side could be separated when the Dons visited Paisley in January as the game finished 0-0. 

The last meeting of the two came at the end of February in the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup with Lewis Ferguson and Sam Cosgrove scoring in a 2-0 win for Aberdeen.

Manager's thoughts

"It will be a difficult game. I think they have only had one slip-up all season against Motherwell where they were comfortably beaten.

"I believe that any team is capable of beating any other team on a given day and if we play as well as what we are capable of then we've got as good a chance as Motherwell had.

"We have to do more in the attacking third and we have to be more of an attacking threat and that's what we are going to try and impose.

"The boys are in good spirits and looking forward to it."

Who are the officials?

Gavin Duncan is referee for Friday night's match with Graeme Leslie and Graham Chambers as the linesmen. Alan Muir is the fourth official. 

The Renfrewshire Health & Social Care Partnership (HSCP) has opened a flu vaccination centre at St Mirren Park for those in Renfrewshire eligible for the flu vaccination. 

The flu centre is located in the West Stand with access available at Drums Avenue gate. 

Every year in Scotland, thousands of people are hospitalised with flu. It can be serious and life threatening, so getting vaccinated is the safest and most effective way to protect yourself.

With COVID-19 still with us and cases on the increase, it is vital that people's safety is the highest priority. The facility at St Mirren Park will enable the HSCP to manage the increased number of people they need to vaccinate this year, while giving them more ability to safely control the flow of people through the vaccination process. 

St Mirren Chief Executive Tony Fitzpatrick visited the facility this morning to receive his vaccination. He said: "St Mirren Football Club is delighted to make St Mirren Park available to Renfrewshire Health & Social Care Partnership for its flu vaccination programme. 

"Having the flu centre located at St Mirren Park will allow the Renfrewshire Health & Social Care Partnership to provide the safest possible way to deliver their service in these difficult times."

For more information on the flu centre please visit http://www.renfrewshire.hscp.scot/Flu 

Below: Tony receives his vaccination at the St Mirren flu centre