St Mirren secured their third successive top-six finish in the Premiership with a dramatic 3-2 victory over Ross County at the SMISA Stadium.
The Buddies started the afternoon knowing that nothing other than a win would be good enough to pip Hearts and Motherwell to the final place in the top half.
They would have to do things the hard way. Goals from Caolan Boyd-Munce and Jonah Ayunga cancelled out Ronan Hale’s opener, before Jordan White dragged County level.
Roland Idowu passed up a good opportunity minutes after coming off the bench but would redeem himself a minute later as he fired home a priceless winner with four minutes left.
Saints boss Stephen Robinson had stressed the need for his side to do their part in order to grab the final top-six place and his team responded by starting on the front foot.
In the ninth minute, an important intervention by Akil Wright diverted Declan John’s fizzing low cross behind for a corner.
After spending the majority of the early stages defending, the Staggies stunned the home crowd by grabbing the opener with 22 minutes on the clock.
Zac Ashworth’s cross caused panic in the Saints backline and, although efforts from White and Josh Nisbet were blocked, Hale was on hand to slam the ball home at the third time of asking. It took a good stop from Zach Hemming to prevent Hale from doubling his tally six minutes later.
The striker outmuscled Alex Gogic and then unleashed a powerful strike that was tipped round a post by the Saints ‘keeper.
Boosted by their opener, County were beginning to enjoy a lot more of the game – but they would be pegged back in the 37th minute in stunning fashion. Boyd-Munce collected Ayunga’s pass before rifling an unstoppable strike beyond Amissah from 35 yards.
In the final minute of the first half, Boyd-Munce tried his luck again from distance with a low drive that was eventually booted clear after being spilled by the County ‘keeper.
St Mirren completed the turnaround four minutes after the restart. Boyd-Munce turned provider to slide the ball through for Ayunga, who coolly hooked the ball into the empty net after his first attempt was blocked by the legs of Amissah. The Buddies were in the driving seat for a place in the top six.
However, that would all change as the visitors found an equaliser in the 63rd minute. Ashworth’s deep corner was met by White, who found the net with his looping header despite the best efforts of Boyd-Munce on the line.
Robinson threw on Idowu and Connor McMenamin for the final 10 minutes in an effort to find a winner.
It almost paid dividends immediately as Idowu spurned a glorious chance after being picked out by a pinpoint delivery from his fellow substitute. Idowu made amends just 60 seconds later when he drilled into the bottom corner from outside the box to send the home fans wild.
In the dying seconds, the news that the match between Motherwell and Hearts had finished goalless was met by a thunderous roar, and Robinson’s men would do their bit as they held on to seal a momentous victory.
What the managers said…
St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson: “To do it three years in a row is an incredible achievement for this football club.
“This is my biggest achievement. People will say, ‘you got to cup finals and got to Europe’. The problems we faced, they don’t teach you on the pro licence.
“Nothing has gone our way this season, nothing has fallen for us – we’ve had to fight and scrap for everything.
“I didn’t know the score [at Fir Park] and I asked specifically that nobody on the bench knew the score. I don’t know if they were lying to me.
“When we scored the third goal, I did ask the question and it was panic stations.”
Ross County boss Don Cowie: “I thought we performed really well.
“St Mirren away is a tough game, everyone knows the difficulties and challenges of that, and what was at stake for them. We had to stand up to that, and I thought we did that.
“Two of the goals we concede are from fantastic strikes from outside the box.
“At 2-2 I thought we were the team that looked most likely to go on and win the match.”
