On a night of disappointment came one shining light as Academy prospect Kyle Magennis took to the field as a half time substitute to replace Kyle Hutton during Tuesday's game at Cappielow.

Much like he did on Saturday when he made his first team bow, taking the place of Ryan Hardie at the interval against Hibernian at Easter Road, Kyle looked assured and composed on the ball and didn't let the occasion faze him as he tried to play his game. 

The midfielder has looked right at home in the centre of midfield in his two cameo appearances for the Saints and has won praise from manager Jack Ross for the way he has come into the side. 

Speaking to stmirren.com after the match on Tuesday night, the player says it's been enjoyable, even if results haven't gone the way of the Saints.

It has been good," he said. "It has been a good experience for me and good to play with the boys. 

It's been a steep learning curve for the player who admitted that the step up from the U20s to first team level has been difficult. However, he said that once he took to the field it became business as usual.

It's a lot harder [than the U20s]. You get pressed a lot more, you don't get as much time on the ball and you have to keep it simple. I was nervous, but once I got on the park it just became another football match and you just try to play the way you play. 

I just want to try my hardest and just do what I can do and get more chances. Hopefully I'll get a start in the next couple of weeks and show what I can do.

He also said that the more experienced players in the squad were very welcoming and did what they could to help him through the games.

They encourage you when you are playing, keep everything positive if you make a mistake and just generally try to encourage you. 

While Jack Ross had positive things to say about Kyle on both his outings, the 18 year-old had praise for the manager as well.

He's been great," he said. "He's been more involved in our training and stuff and wants to give us a chance to impress."

Ticket prices for the William Hill Scottish Cup, 3rd Round tie against Spartans on 26th November have now been confirmed.

The tickets for this tie will go on sale at the St Mirren Ticket Office and the Online Ticket Shop from 10:00am next Monday (7th November)

For this cup tie we are also offering a special family ticket for £18 which consists of 1 adult and 3 under 12 tickets. This ticket cannot be bought online, it can either be purchased at the Ticket Office in person or over the phone.  This offer is available for all stands and to both sets of fans.

Following the success of the mixed family section we hosted at last season's Scottish Cup tie against Partick Thistle, we are going to do this again for this tie.

Season ticket Holders will have until Sunday 20th November to purchase their own seats for the cup game, after that the seats will be released and sold on a first come first served basis.

The match and ticket details are as follows:

St Mirren v Spartans
William Hill Scottish Cup, 3rd Round
Venue: Paisley 2021 Stadium, Paisley
Date: Saturday 26th November 2016
Kick-off: 3:00pm

Season Tickets ARE NOT valid for this cup tie.

Ticket Prices

St Mirren Ticket Office hours for the remainder of this week are as follows:

03/11/2016 - 10:00am to 2:00pm
04/11/2016 - 10:00am to 2:00pm
05/11/2016 - 10:00am to 3:15pm

Jack Ross admitted last night's defeat to Morton at Cappielow last night wasn't good enough.

Saints fell to a 3-1 defeat in the Renfrewshire derby after first half goals from Thomas O'Ware and Ross Forbes were added to by a second half strike from Gary Oliver for the home team.

Defender Ben Gordon, recalled by Ross from his emergency loan at Alloa, got his first goal for St Mirren near the death but it wasn't enough to mount what would have been an unlikely comeback. 

The manager believes that Saints failed to match Morton's desire to win the match and it is up to himself and the players to work on that.

Speaking after the match, Jack said: "We were not good enough, we deserved nothing from the game. 

The first half in particular is nowhere near what it needs to be to, not only win a derby match, but to win a game at Championship level in terms of the energy and desire we showed. We failed to match the basic parts of the game that Morton did well, which was the intensity, desire and energy that they showed. If you do that you give yourself an opportunity to win the game and we didn't do that. 

"I apologise to those who were in attendance," he continued. "It won't mean much to them but I understand what they are going through at the moment and it's my responsibility as much as anybody else to try and put that right. Whether I've been here three weeks or three years it continues to be my responsibility and the determination to put that right and the belief is not going to wane. But we need to be a lot better than we were." 

"You can work on other aspects of the game and you can talk to the players and motivate them. I understand where they are at the moment with how the season has gone, there's a fragility about them. But they have two choices in it; they either buckle or they come out and they stand up to it." 

The manager apologised again to the supporters who travelled in great numbers to Greenock last night. Over 1000 Saints made the journey and he said: "I want to apologise. And it's not done to patronise them in anyway, I wouldn't do that if it wasn't deserved. But they deserve an apology.

You have a derby defeat, these things will happen in football at times, but the manner of it was not acceptable. I will take any amount of criticism that will come my way because I want to be the best I can be at this job and right now I'm not doing that because we've not won any of these three games. But I want them to stick by us and I hope that during my tenure I can find ways of making up for disappointments. 

"I know what they are capable of providing. Tonight was indicative of that because, despite how the season has gone, they still travelled in that group of numbers. I am apologising because it's not good enough and I want to provide something that is good enough for them.

"I understand my responsibility," he continued. "I want to put that right and I'll continue to engage with supporters whether it's through these difficult times or whether it's through better times."

One positive note from last night's match was the performance of Kyle Magennis, who replaced Kyle Hutton at half time.

The young midfielder, who has impressed with the U20s this season, came on for his debut against Hibernian on Saturday and put in another good showing last night in what the manager believes wasn't an easy environment.

I like him as a player," he said. "I like his attitude. I think he's came on in two difficult circumstances and he's done himself no harm."

St Mirren were dealt derby disappointment as they fell to a 3-1 defeat at Cappielow. First half goals from Thomas O'Ware and Ross Forbes were added to by a second half strike by Gary Oliver to consign Saints to a bitterly disappointing defeat. Ben Gordon pulled back a late goal for the Saints but it proved to be nothing more than a consolation goal.

Saints started the game brightly and won a corner with less than two minutes on the clock. Mallan whipped the ball in but it was easily dealt with by the Morton defence. 

It only took until the five minute mark for either side to register a shot and it came when Forbes drilled a low effort from outside the box into the arms of Jamie Langfield. However, it was easy for the goalkeeper who was making his 50th start for the Saints. 

Morton were on the front foot in the early goings with Quitongo causing problems for Ben Gordon and his ball for Gary Oliver looked to have created a great opportunity for the striker but St Mirren got numbers back and cleared the danger. 

The Ton's pressure would tell though and they took the lead with just 15 minutes gone through Thomas O'Ware. The defender leapt above the St Mirren defence to bullet Forbes' free kick beyond Langfield and give the home side the lead. 

Saints were struggling to impose themselves on the game and things went from bad to worse when Morton doubled their lead before the half hour mark. Saints lost the ball in the midfield area and the skillful Quitongo back heeled the ball to Oliver who sent Forbes on his way. The midfielder broke into the box and drilled the ball into the back of the net. 

In truth, Morton were well worth their lead as the Buddies failed to get going. Things could've been different going in to half-time when David Clarkson went close to halving the deficit. The striker picked up the ball on the edge of the box and got the shot away, but watched as it agonisingly trickled just beyond the far point. Lawrence Shankland also had an opportunity before half-time though fired it over the bar. 

Half Time: Morton 2-0 St Mirren

Jack Ross reacted to the first half showing by bringing on Kyle Magennis and John Sutton for Kyle Hutton and Tom Walsh and Saints were starting to have a bit more territory, but were failing to create any real chances to get themselves back into the game. Forbes went close for Morton when he curled an effort goal bound but it was well held by Langfield. 

Jason Naismith went close when his shot was deflected just by the post and out for a corner. The Buddies failed to make it count as Morton easily cleared. 

Any chance of Saints getting back into the game looked to have been extinguished when Morton had the ball in the back of the net for a third time but the linesman's flag was raised as Oliver was adjudged to have blocked Langfield's view. 

That wasn't to matter for Morton though as they went 3-0 up less than ten minutes later. Gary Oliver picked up the ball just outside the box after Forbes' flick on and lashed it into the net to secure all three points.

There was a late consolation goal as Gordon headed home Mallan's corner. It was a good header from the defender - who was making just his third Saints appearance - but wasn't enough to spark an unlikely comeback.

Full Time: Morton 3-1 St Mirren

St Mirren: Langfield, Naismith, Baird, Gordon, Irvine, Walsh (Sutton, 46), Hutton (Magennis, 46), Mallan, Morgan, Clarkson, Shankland (Hardie, 64)
Subs Not Used: Gallacher, Whyte, McLear, Gallagher

Morton: Gaston, Lamie, O'Ware. Oliver, Forbes (Tidser, 85), Lindsay, Nesbitt, Russell, McDonagh, Murdoch, Quitongo (Oyenuga, 80)
Subs Not Used: McNeill, Kilday, Gunning, Doyle, Scullion 

Attendance: 3,378 (1008 St Mirren fans)

Match report pictures by Allan Picken – © Allan Picken Photography.

Match Gallery Pictures © John Millar.

St Mirren make the trip to Greenock this evening to face Renfrewshire rivals Morton in the Ladbrokes Championship.

Tonight's match, originally scheduled for Saturday 22 October, but postponed due to Morton's involvement in the Betfred Cup, will be the second time the two sides have squared off against each other this season following a 1-1 draw at the Paisley 2021 Stadium on the opening day of the season. 

On that day, Morton held the lead for the majority of the game after Thomas O'Ware's early first half goal put the Ton ahead. It was better late than never for the Saints when John Sutton popped up to head home his first goal since returning to the Buddies in the summer with just seven minutes remaining to earn the draw. 

Morton come into this evening's match on the back of some good form having won their last three matches in the Ladbrokes Championship - beating Ayr United, Queen of the South and Raith Rovers. It took two goals in the last 15 minutes or so of the Greenock side's game against Ayr United on Saturday for the Ton to grab victory having gone 1-0 down in the first half. Morton's home form is also strong, with Jim Duffy's side having not lost a match at Cappielow since a 1-0 loss to Raith Rovers in March 2016.

The feeling is that there has been an improvement in performances since Jack Ross took over as Saints manager several weeks ago. Unfortunately though, Saints have left matches against Dundee United and Hibernian empty handed. 

Lawrence Shankland was the hero for the Buddies in the last trip to Cappielow at the beginning of 2016, with his first half header enough to take all three points, and the bragging rights, back to Paisley. It was the first derby win for either side in the 2015/16 season following draws at Cappielow and the Paisley 2021 Stadium in August and November respectively. Shankland was also on the scoresheet when the teams met towards the end of the season, with further goals from Calum Gallagher and Stephen Mallan securing a 3-1 win for St Mirren.

Should Jamie Langfield start in goal tonight for the Saints it will mark his 50th appearance for the team he supported as a boy. The goalkeeper will be looking to maintain his run of clean sheets at Cappielow having denied the home side a goal in both trips to Greenock last season. The 36 year-old was in inspired form in Saturday's loss to Hibernian as he saved a penalty from Grant Holt and made several other good saves. 

As with all derby matches tonight will be hugely significant for both sides. A win for St Mirren would give Saints their first league win of the season and move them level on points with Dumbarton who come to the Paisley 2021 Stadium on Saturday. For Morton, a win would see them propel themselves above Falkirk in fifth and allow them a chance to sneak into the last play-off spot ahead of Queen of the South. 

All the ticket information for tonight's game can be found here, whilst all travel club information is available at this link.

Over the last few weeks a group of volunteers from within SMISA's membership have been in at the Paisley 2021 Stadium cleaning the Family Stand. While the front of the seats are cleaned by the club each year, the backs are not. The volunteers have been in cleaning these with power-washers and they have also cleaned the stairs, banisters and the advertising boards to make the area look much nicer ahead of Saturday's game against Dumbarton.

The Club's thanks go to volunteer squad members Bert Downie, Ian McLaren, Ken Docherty, Gordon Black and SMISA committee member Jim Crawford for all their hard work. 

The guys are keen to expand the numbers and if anybody has a few hours to spare and would like to join them, your help will be hugely appreciated. The team are back in at the stadium this week tackling the West Stand. For more information, email jim.crawford@smisa.net 

We are pleased to announce the launch of the second phase of the club website development project with the new St.Mirren "e-store" going live today here at stmirren.com.

The e-store allows our supporters and local businesses to pay for goods and services online using our new secure payment processing platform.

Initially in this phase we are rolling out online bookings for Matchday Hospitality and also opening up the remaining player sponsorship packages at a reduced rate for both individual and corporate sponsors to the end of the season.

This is only the beginning. We will be looking at all the services provided by the club and hosting as many of these online as we can, making purchasing as quick, easy and convenient as possible.

Today you will be able to book corporate hospitality for the Dumbarton game this coming Saturday and also for the Chinese/Indian Buffet we are running for the later kick off match against Dunfermline on the 19th of November. In fact all our home league games to the end of the year are available to buy including the perfect Christmas present of a day out at the derby game vs Morton on Hogmanay!

More matches will be added to the system during the course of the week.

The e-store can be found under "Shop" in the main menu and you will see online payment buttons on the relevant service pages too.

Naturally it works perfectly on mobiles and tablets so you book your services wherever you happen to be.

Click here to have a look around and create an account for easy future payments on the system.

Bookings are of subject to VAT which will be calculated at the time of order and all corporate transactions are subject to a £1.50 per ticket booking fee. All major credit cards are accepted and business customers can reserve services online using company purchase orders.

Where season ticket holder discounts are available please enter the applicable season ticket numbers in the box provided when processing your sale.

Jamie Langfield admits a result against Morton would make his 50th start for St Mirren all the more sweet as the Buddies head to Greenock tomorrow night. The goalkeeper will make the milestone appearance in the derby match if he's selected by manager Jack Ross and Langfield says he's very proud to be closing in on 50 games for the Saints.

Speaking to stmirren.com after Saturday's match against Hibernian, the 36 year-old said: "For me to play 50 times for my local team that I supported is a massive achievement and something that I'm very proud of. 

"It's a great milestone to reach and it would be even sweeter if we get the result on Tuesday night and we can really kick-start our season.

I feel as fit as I ever have," he continued. "I may have the body of a 36 year-old, but I have the mindset of an 18 year-old. Adjusting to the player/coach thing was hard at the start, but I'm really enjoying it. I have a great bunch of goalkeepers to work with and I'm also working with the academy now, so I'm seeing what's coming through and it's things like that that I really do enjoy. But first and foremost, I'm a player and whenever the manager needs me I'll be there giving 100%. I may make mistakes, but I'll give everything." 

Langfield made several stops throughout Saturday's game and saved a second half penalty from Grant Holt, but said that it didn't mean all that much in the end due to the fact the side still lost. However, he believes that the Saints squad is a talented one and will hopefully kick on.

It's great that you maybe give yourself a wee chance to go up the other end and maybe nick a goal, but at the end of the day it hasn't really counted for much. When your luck is against you and your confidence is down because you've not got a result the quality of a Hibs shows. We've got that in our squad, but we need a result to go our way just to get it out and let it flourish. 

The effort from the team is incredible and some of our play as well is brilliant, but we're just not getting that wee bit in the final third, that wee bit of quality that Hibs had. They've got that by winning games and breeding confidence and hopefully that's what we need to get because as a squad we've got those players." 

The goalkeeper also firmly believes that Jack Ross and James Fowler are the right men for the job and has been impressed with the training since the manager took over last month.

He said: "He's brought a youthfulness, a right togetherness, his demands are very high and you can see the way the boys are working. A lot of people talk about fitness, but I don't think it has anything to do with fitness. I just think we are looking a bit sharper and now it's all about breeding confidence in the team to get the results and I'm sure he and James Fowler and the men to do it." 

Tonight (Tuesday 1st November), St Mirren head along the Clyde to Greenock to face Jim Duffy's Morton side at Cappielow Park.

The info on Travel Clubs heading to Greenock for the match is as follows:

Cockles Wilson Supporters Bus

The bus for Cappielow will leave at 6:45pm.

Bus tickets are now available from the Bankhouse.

Tile Bar Supporters Bus

The bus for the Morton game will leave at 6:45pm.

Bus tickets are now on sale.

North End Travel Club

The bus to Greenock will leave the Sneddon at 6:30pm.

Bus tickets are on sale in the Brewers Tap, £5 each.

Chivas Travel Club

The bus will leave the Court Bar at 6:45pm for the match at Cappielow.

Tickets for this bus are on sale from the bar.

* Proof of status must be shown

** Children Under 12 gain free entry if accompanied by an adult.

Any wheelchair spaces need to be booked direct with The St Mirren Ticket Office as the spaces are limited – the cost is £15 for the wheelchair user and carer.

Additional Information

Tonight, Tuesday 1st November, St Mirren head to Greenock to face Morton in the Ladbrokes Championship.

The gate prices have now been confirmed for the fixture at Cappielow Park and these are shown above.

This match will be pay-at-the gate with cash turnstiles in the Wee Dublin End of Cappielow Park.

The referee tomorrow is Euan Anderson and he will be assisted by Graham Chambers and David McKniff.

For directions to Cappielow Park click here