St Mirren were beaten heavily in the William Hill Premiership as Motherwell ran out 5-0 winners at The SMiSA Stadium.
The Steelmen were deserved winners as they dominated the proceedings on a poor evening for Saints who saw themselves reduced to 10 men when Richard King was sent off in the second-half. The red card had no bearing on the contest though with Motherwell in control.
Manager Stephen Robinson made two changes to his side with captain Mark O'Hara returning to the starting line-up for the first time since November, while Roland Idowu also came in from the start. Saints changed system as we moved to a 4-2-3-1 with Idowu, Killian Phillips and Conor McMenamin playing behind Jake Young as the lone striker.
McMenamin had the first opportunity of the match with just two minutes played. The Northern Irishman forced a save from 'Well goalkeeper Calum Ward with Idowu unfortunately slipping which denied him the chance to get on to the loose ball. The visitors then came close to breaking the deadlock just a minute later when Emmanuel Longelo swung a brilliant ball into the box where it met Tawanda Maswanhise who knocked inches by the far post.
Motherwell took the lead on 14 minutes when Elijah Just struck home the opener. The New Zealand forward shot through the legs of Miguel Freckleton and found the far corner.
Saints tried to get themselves back on level terms and King did well down the right-side. The Jamaican lifted the ball over Stephen Welsh and raced on to the ball before sending across for Young. His attempt was deflected wide of target.
The visitors doubled their advantage on the half-hour mark when Maswanhise scored from the penalty spot. The striker found himself on the end of a ball from Just and was brought down by Shamal George. He stepped up from 12 yards and made no mistake to make it 2-0.
The Buddies' night looked like it had gone from bad to worse when referee Calum Scott brandished a straight red card at Alex Gogic. There didn't appear to be much in the Cypriot's challenge and that was confirmed when the red was downgraded to a yellow after a VAR check.
Alex Gogic sees his red card downgraded (Image: Allan Picken)
Stephen Robinson responded by making three changes at the interval. That saw the introduction of Marcus Fraser, Keanu Baccus and Mikael Mandron in place of Jacob Devaney, McMenamin and Idowu. But Saints fell further behind at the beginning of the second-half. Ibrahim Said's deflected effort came off Fraser and evaded George's grasp as it found the net. And if that wasn't punishment enough, the Buddies wee then reduced to 10 men with King shown a straight red card on 52 minutes after a coming together with Callum Slattery. Again, there didn't appear to be much to it, but the decision stood and this one wouldn't be overturned.
Longelo added a fourth for Motherwell just before the hour and while it was initially ruled out for offside, the goal stood after a lengthy VAR check. Substitute Eythor Bjørgolfsson made it five just a few minutes after his introduction when he volleyed home a cross from the right to cap off a miserable night for the Buddies.
Full-Time: St Mirren 0-5 Motherwell
St Mirren: George, King, Gogic, Freckleton, John, Phillips, Devaney (Baccus 46), O'Hara (c) (Donnelly 78), McMenamin (Fraser 46), Idowu (Mandron 46), Young (Calvin 61)
Subs: Mullen, Richardson, Tanser, Nlundulu
Motherwell: Ward, O'Donnell, McGinn (c) (Bjørgolfsson 62), Welsh, Longelo (Nicholson 77), Priestman, Watt (Charles-Cook 77), Slattery, Just (Sparrow 62), Said (Ross 77), Maswanhise
Subs: Connelly, Gordon, McGhee, McAllister
Referee: Calum Scott
AR1: Frank Connor
AR2: Alastair Mather
Fourth Official: Alastair Grieve
VAR: Nick Walsh
