St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson questions stoppage time length as ten-man St Johnstone rescue late draw

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson admits conceding a last-gasp equaliser to St Johnstone was “hard to take” as he questioned referee Euan Anderson’s decision to allow five minutes of stoppage time at the end of the match.

The Buddies were on course to climb to fourth in the Scottish Premiership table after Mark O’Hara sumptuous volley fired them 2-1 in front after 90 minutes. But Anderson signalled five additional minutes, having sent off visiting defender Alex Mitchell following a VAR review.

Nicky Clark hooked a tremendous acrobatic effort into the far corner with the last kick of the game to ensure the Perth outfit snatched a share of the spoils at the SMiSA Stadium.

The late concession dropped St Mirren down to eight place, but extended their unbeaten home run to seven matches, while St Johnstone remain ahead of the Paisley side on goal difference.

Robinson said: “They went down to 10 men and were very difficult to break down. What a goal it was to break them down and then we’re five seconds from sitting in fourth place at the end. I’m just gutted for the boys as they put so much effort into it.

“Mark’s goal was a class strike but so was their equaliser. Six minutes added time is when there’s a real serious injury and people are getting medical treatement. I didn’t see that. I dont know where that came from. I asked Euan and he explained it to me. He said it was stop-start and he needed to put that extra time on.

“I disagree. There were only two minutes added on in the first half when there was a VAR decision. It doesn’t really make sense to me, so we’re aggreived by that.

“I thought we were excellent in horrible conditions. We have come so far and a bit of realism shows that a lot has been improved at this football club.”

St Mirren were desperate to preserve their impressive home record this season on the back of two consecutive away league defeats to Hibernian and Ross County. After an uneventful opening, Curtis Main forced St Johnstone keeper Remi Matthews into a diving save from 20 yards after a clever pass from Greg Kiltie, before the striker fizzed a powerful drive narrowly over the top after 21 minutes.

Despite creating the better openings, St Mirren fell behind after 33 minutes as the visitors finally ventured into the final third of the pitch. Drey Wright’s lofted pass struck the trailing arm of defender Scott Tanser and, after a lenghty VAR vheck, referee Anderson pointed to the spot. Graham Carey stepped up to rifle past Trevor Carson, who guessed the right way but was unable to keep it out.

The Buddies responded well to that setback and were back on level terms four minutes before the interval when Greg Kiltie’s crisp first-time strike from just inside the box flashed past Matthew into the bottom right hand corner.

The second half began just as the first-half had done, with very little to note. That was until just after the hour mark when VAR interfered again. Alex Mitchell’s late sliding challenge on Kiltie was originally deemed a yellow card offence by Anderson, but after being advised to look at the monitor, the referee upgraded his initial decision to a red card for serious foul play.

As a result, St Johnstone reverted to a more defensive-minded 4-5-1 approach, with on loan Aberdeen attacker Connor McLennan the player sacrificed and centre-back Liam Gordon brought on in his place.

Sensing an opportunity to ramp up the pressure, St Mirren boss Robinson introduced Jonah Ayunga and Eamonn Brophy with 15 minutes remaining and shortly after the hosts with undoubtedly a stunning goal of the season contender.

Captain Mark O’Hara received the ball 25-yards out and the midfielder displayed brilliant technical ability to wrap his favoured right-foot over the ball and connect sweetly on the volley as it fleww high into the roof of the net, scoring for the second time in two games.

It seemed St Johnstone would leave empty-handed as the home side attempted to run the clock down deep into injury-time. However, Clark had other ideas as he produced an exquisite overhead-kick from substitute Ali Crawford long ranking cross, into the far corner of the net.

The last-gasp rescue act sent St Johnstone boss Callum Davidson into a frenzy on the touchline. He stated: “I thought we started the second half a little better and controlled the game until the sending-off. That changed it and then O’Hara scores a wonder goal.

“We just had to take it on the chin. You saw that never-say-die attitude from the players. I probably over-celebrated a goal a little bit too much. I don’t normally do that but I was just delighted to get a point. Nicky (Clark) has proved a fantastic signing for us and hopefully the goals will continue to come.”

St Mirren (5-3-2): Carson, Fraser, Gallagher (Brophy; 75), Dunne, Strain, Kiltie (Gogic; 83), Erhahon, O’Hara, Tanser, Main (Shaugnessy; 83), Greive (Ayunga; 75)

Unused: Urminsky (GK), Flynn, Reid, Henderson, Olusanya

St Johnstone (3-4-1-2): Matthews, Wright (Blair; 82), McGowan, Mitchell, Considine, Brown, Hallberg, Carey (Wotherspoon; 82), Murphy (Crawford; 66), Clark, McLennan (Gordon; 63)

Unused: Parish (GK), Gallacher, Phillips, Kucheriavyj, Montgomery

Referee: Euan Anderson

Attendance: 5,387 (473 away)

GlasgowWorld Man of the Match: Charles Dunne (St Mirren)