St Mirren drew 1-1 with Dundee United on matchday 38 in the William Hill Premiership.
Jake Young's second-half goal cancelled out Zach Sapsford's first-half strike as Saints attention now turns to next week's Premiership Play-Off contest against Partick Thistle.
Craig McLeish made five changes to his starting lineup with Thursday night's first-leg at Firhill in mind. That saw 16-year-old Luke Douglas handed his first start, while Jayden Richardson, Roland Idowu, Scott Tanser and Young also came in. Liam Donnelly, Richard King, Jacob Devaney, Killian Phillips and Mikael Mandron dropped to the bench.
Teenage forward Douglas, who would impress throughout the afternoon, created the first opportunity as he forces a good stop from United goalkeeper David Richards on seven minutes. The Arabs' stopper had to be alert to the follow up, pushing Richardson's attempt wide.
Douglas would have the ball in the net on 18 minutes, but saw the strike ruled out for offside. The forward raced on to a pass from Miguel Freckleton and saw his shot squirm through the hands of Richards before being denied by the linesman's flag.
It was United who would draw first blood less than 10 minutes later. Sapsford met Max Watters' cross from the right and fired beyond Ross Sinclair to make it 1-1.
Young looked to get the Buddies back on terms on 34 minutes after a positive run in from the left channel, but the forward's shot was blocked by Richards from a tight angle. Alex Gogic let fly from long-range as we headed into the final five minutes of the half with Richards having to get a strong hand on it to tip over the bar.
Craig McLeish made a double substitution at half-time with the introduction of Devaney and Thomas Falconer in place of Mark O'Hara and Freckleton.
Douglas was close to equalising six minutes after the restart when he was found in space by Marcus Fraser. The striker's curling effort going just wide of target. The 16-year-old again looked to be Saints' biggest threat aand he forced a two-handed save from Richards with another curled attempt from 20 yards. A minute later the Buddies would find themselves on terms. It was Young with the strike from the edge of the area that deflected beyond Richards to score his third goal for the Buddies and make it 1-1.
Douglas, who would have another attempt on 77 minutes which Richards held, would be replaced by another Saints youth academy prospect as he made way for Caiden McMillan on 85 minutes. The youngster left the field of play to a standing ovation from the Buddies faithful after an impressive showing on his first start. Saints almost found a winner with two minutes remaining and it was youth academy graduate Falconer who was almost the hero. His lovely footwork saw his open up space and play a one-two with Allan Campbell before cracking a low strike off the post.
In the final minutes, Idowu would force a save from Richards a minute before a Gogic overhead kick was blocked on the line as the Buddies had to settle for a share of the spoils on the final day of the league campaign. All focus now turns to our trip to Maryhill on Thursday night when we take on Partick Thistle as we aim to preserve our top flight status.
Full-Time: St Mirren 1-1 Dundee United
St Mirren: Sinclair, Fraser (King 66), Gogic, Freckleton (Falconer 46), Richardson, Idowu, Campbell, O'Hara (c) (Devaney 46), Tanser (Calvin 66), Douglas (McMillan 85), Young
Subs: Tamosevicius, Donnelly, Phillips, Mandron
Dundee Utd: Richards, Strain (Constable 66), Keresztes, Cleall-Harding (Eskesen 59), Graham (c), Gilligan, Sevelj, Camara, Sibbald (Esselink 74), Sapsford (Stirton 74), Watters (Russell 59)
Subs: Adams, Naamo, Mudie
Referee: Steven McLean
AR1: Scott Anderson
AR2: Gordon McCabe
VAR: Duncan Williams
