THE season of goodwill clearly finishes earlier in Paisley than in most other places.
St Mirren and Kilmarnock convened for this New Year's contest, shook hands warmly, then spent the remainder of the afternoon getting stuck into each other. By the end a rather stunned St Mirren Park had witnessed three penalties, two red cards, and five bookings amid a general mood of disharmony. Happy new year right enough.
At the centre of it all - as always - was Willie Collum. Such was the abject nature of the referee's performance that by the conclusion of this encounter, won 2-1 by Kilmarnock, he had somehow achieved the impossible by uniting both sets of supporters. "You don't know what you're doing," chanted the St Mirren fans, with those from Kilmarnock joining them in song. The horrendous weather conditions and some rash tackling did not help Collum's cause but the DVD of his display here should make for uncomfortable viewing.
At first glance, none of the three penalties given looked the right decision. Two went Kilmarnock's way, with a soft award given to St Mirren in the final minute of the contest looking like nothing more than a sop. It was too late to try to win over the enraged home fans by then.
None of this will help Gary Teale's prospects of becoming the next permanent manager of St Mirren. For the second home game in succession, Teale felt his side had been on the wrong end of some ropey officiating and he did not hold back with his criticism.
"Were we hard done by? To say the least," said the caretaker manager. "I've looked back at the decisions and told the referee that I was embarrassed that he gave us the penalty at the end. That was a token gesture as I didn't think that was a penalty either, and neither were either of the Kilmarnock ones.
"If we had won the Motherwell game then got a point here - and it had 0-0 written all over it - then I could be sitting here four points better off. Results will dictate whether I get the job or not so it's a massive hindrance."
A tetchy encounter played to the backdrop of a swirling wind and incessant rain was never going to be won by a moment of brilliance. Instead it was settled from the spot. The first award was given after 53 minutes when Marc McAusland was deemed to have impeded Josh Magennis. There seemed little in it but Collum thought otherwise and Alexei Eremenko swept home the penalty. That this wasn't to be McAusland's day was confirmed late in the game when he took a boot from Manuel Pascali flush in the face and couldn't continue. St Mirren had used all their substitutes and limped to the end with just nine men.
The second penalty came six minutes from time and ensured a first Kilmarnock away victory since mid-October. Again it looked soft and again Magennis was at the heart of it. Stephen Mallan, following a week of praise around the world after his wonder goal against Dundee went viral, was this time painted as the villain, adjudged to have pulled Magennis to the ground. This time Craig Slater took the kick, scoring low past Mark Ridgers. That would be the midfielder's final involvement in the game, his ill-judged leap over the advertising boards to celebrate with the Kilmarnock fans a earning him a second yellow card and an early traipse up the tunnel.
"He's absolutely gutted in there," revealed manager Allan Johnston. "I don't think he was aware that it was an automatic booking for leaving the field of play."
By that point, St Mirren were down to 10 men as well. Magennis, a St Mirren player as recently as May, was again involved, appearing to tell the referee that Kenny McLean had motioned towards Slater with his head. It did little to endear Magennis either to the St Mirren fans - who booed him throughout the remainder of the game - or to his former team-mates given the way Jason Naismith would later clatter into him and pick up a booking. St Mirren will consider appealing McLean's red card otherwise they will be without the influential midfielder for their next two games.
"The referee makes those calls in a split-second and he obviously thought he got them right," added Teale. "I think he got them wrong."
The one positive for St Mirren came in the final minute of injury time when Pascali, already on a booking, was adjudged to have fouled Jim Goodwin in the box. Again it didn't look like a penalty but Collum thought otherwise. Substitute Gregg Wylde drilled in the kick but it was a case of too little, too late, the final whistle sounding shortly afterwards. Then the recriminations began.
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