St Mirren were presented with the 2024 Communities Cup after a 2-0 pre-season victory over Greenock Morton.
Roland Idowu scored a first-half double to give Saints the victory at Cappielow.
The Buddies hit the front with just three minutes on the clock when Idowu netted with a tidy finish. The Saints loanee who turned his way by Kirk Broadfoot before dispatching coolly into the right corner of the net.
Goalscorer Idowu looked to turn provider when his low pass from the left found Mark O'Hara in acres of space inside the Morton box. The skipper's powerful strike was blocked but fell into the path of Jonah Ayunga who rolled the ball to Shaun Rooney. The wing-back also saw his effort blocked by the Ton defence.
The hosts came close to drawing level on 14 minute when Zak Delaney flashed an effort just over the bar.
Ellery Balcombe with a strong save to push away a Lamar Reynolds strike after the forward had got in behind the Saints defence. The number one was forced into another good stop when he was down low to push away a low Owen Moffat hit at the near post.
But it was the Buddies who would strike again with Idowu grabbing his and Saints' second. Mikael Mandron drove forward and rolled the ball into the path of the Irishman who finished with aplomb to double our advantage just after the half hour mark.
Caolan Boyd-Munce almost added a third for Saints when he curled agonisingly over the bar from the edge of the area. And it was the midfielder's blocked effort two minutes later that presented Idowu with a chance for his hat-trick, but his shot was saved by the legs of Ryan Mullen in the Morton goal.
There were three Saints changes at half-time with goalkeeper Peter Urminsky replaced Balcombe, while our trialist came on for 45 minutes in place of Boyd-Munce and Toyosi Olusanya replaced Mandron.
Rooney had the first opportunity following the break when Morton goalkeeper Mullen had to get two hands behind his effort as it looked to be heading into the top corner.
Stephen Robinson freshened things up with five changes around the hour mark with Luke Kenny, Elvis Bwomono, Oisin Smyth, Lewis Jamieson and James Scott introduced in place of Alex Gogic, Richard Taylor, O'Hara, Idowu and Ayunga.
Brown almost made it 3-0 to Saints as the game approached its final 10 minutes or so. The full-back rattled the bar with a fierce strike from range.
Full-Time: Greenock Morton 0-2 St Mirren
St Mirren: Balcombe (Urminsky 46), Fraser, Gogic (Kenny 61), R.Taylor (Bwomono 61), Rooney, O'Hara (c) (Smyth 61), Boyd-Munce (Trialist 46), Tanser (Brown 25), Idowu (Scott 61), Mandron (Olusanya 46), Ayunga (Jamieson 61)
Subs Not Used: Foster, Sutherland, F.Taylor
Morton: Mullen, Ballantyne, Delaney, Boyes, Broadfoot (Baird 60), Blues (O'Boy 80), Gillespie (Bearne 65), Lyall (Wilson 60), Reynolds (Garrity 60), Davies, Moffat (Trialist 80)
Subs Not Used: Murdoch
Referee: Colin Steven
Assistant Referee: David Dunne
Assistant Referee: Scott Anderson
Attendance: 2,262
Manager Reaction - "Things we need to work on and happy with lots of good play."
Manager Stephen Robinson's thoughts after our 2-0 win over Morton at Cappielow in the Communities Cup.
