The first half was goaless, although quite how Stewart Kean managed to miss two chances in the space of a minute will remain a mystery for a week weeks. The first was from less than ten yards out after a good pass from Billy Mehmet, but he could only fire straight at St. Johnstone goalkeeper Kevin Cuthbert. The second was from a corner shortly after, but he somehow managed to miss from a few yeards out.
Fortunately Keano made amends in the second half. Brian McGinty replaced Mehmet and capitalised on a poor passback from Simon Mensing. His shot (he seems to have realised that shooting is allowed) comically went through defender Kevin jame;s legs and Cuthbert could only parry it to Kean, who was never going to miss in a million years. 1-0 to the good guys.
Sadly the lead only lasted a few minutes. The Fake Saints replaced Stephen Dobbie with Peter MacDonald (who was sent off the last time he played us for assaulting Andy Millen) and his brilliant through ball put Ryan McCann one on one with Saints goalkeeper Craig Hinchcliffe. Hinchy stupidly decided to bring McCann down and the referee awarded a penalty. Scotsport's pictures clearly show the foul was outside the box, but as Hinchcliffe escaped a red card somehow, we shouldn't complain too much. MacDonald converted the spot kick to make it 1-1.
St. Johnstone fans have been going on all week about how much they were looking forward to giving abuse to former Fake Saints players Andy Millen, Mark Reilly and Ian Maxwell. They forgot one, and so did their defence with five minutes left. A Simon Lappin corner, riduculously high as per usual, was headed across goal by Kirk Broadfoot and Kevin McGowne was totally unmarked to head home the winner. Captain Chaos to the rescue!
So, a St. Mirren win, Brian McGinty having a shot and Kevin McGowne doing something constructive. What's next, a win against the Fakes in the cup on Tuesday as well?