St Mirren B exited the KDM Evolution Trophy after a 2-0 defeat away to Stranraer in our final league phase match.
The Young Saints had to win at Stair Park to have any chance of progressing to the Round of 32. But two goals in the opening 12 minutes from Stranraer marksman Deryn Lang did the damage to the Buddies from which they were unable to recover.
Lang opened the scoring on five minutes when he got his head on a cross from the right-hand side and nodded beyond Grant Tamosevicius in the St Mirren net. The prolific Blues striker doubled the hosts' advantage seven minutes later when he slid in to bundle home a low cross from Mark Russell.
The Buddies struggled to get going and looked in danger of falling further behind. Tamosevicius made an important stop at his near post to turn Ryan Edgar's effort over the bar on 19 minutes before denying Lang his hat-trick on the half-hour mark, making a strong save with his foot. Lang came close again on 36 minutes when he glanced a header inches by the far post after being met unmarked from a corner.
The Young Saints started to settle after a tough opening period and had their best chance of the first-half five minutes before the break. Jack Lavery was found in loads of space but he shot straight at Ewan Henderson who was able to gather with ease.
The Buddies made a much more controlled start to the second-half and should have reduced the deficit a little over 10 minutes after the restart. Lewis Hodgkiss got himself on the end of a brilliant delivery from Luke Douglas, only to knock over the bar from inside the six-yard box.
With less than 20 minutes to go, Lavery saw himself get in behind the Stranraer defence, but his cross-cum-shot was cleared off the line by Lewis Reid with substitute Ihsan Rehman looking to pounce.
The Saints huffed and puffed but in truth didn't do enough to trouble Henderson to find the goal that would give them a route back into the match.
Full-Time: Stranraer 2-0 St Mirren B
St Mirren B: Tamosevicius, Hutchison (c), Clark, Hunter, Barr (Stoddart 46), Hodgkiss (Kiely , Thompson, Falconer (Morrow 65), Farquhar (Rehman 65), Douglas, Lavery
Subs Not Used: Innes
Stranraer: Henderson, Rough, McKnight, Russell (Quigg 72), Dunne (Reid 59), Hughes (Ecrepont 59), Sharp, Coll, Hunter, Lang (Dolan 66), Edgar
Subs Not Used: Lane
Referee: Connor Ashwood
AR1: Cameron Telfer
AR2: Brent Falconer
