St Mirren vs Kilmarnock LIVE: Scottish Premiership team news, updates, stats, reaction & match report
Kilmarnock boosted their hopes of Scottish Premiership survival with a vital victory over St Mirren, which eases them four points clear of their relegation rivals in the play-off spot with two games to play.
Miguel Freckleton’s early own goal and a superb second-half double from Findlay Curtis prolong an impressive sequence of results in Paisley for Kilmarnock, who have now only lost once in their last eight visits.
Given what was at stake, this was a curiously lacklustre display by St Mirren, who rarely threatened a comfortable Kilmarnock side and now find their hopes of Premiership safety out of their own hands.
Having lost goals in the first minute of their previous three away games, there was no repeat for Kilmarnock, who were ahead inside 10 minutes.
Tom Lowery’s cross was meant for Joe Hugill at the back post, but Freckleton’s attempted block diverted the ball beyond a stranded Ross Sinclair in goal.
The goalkeeper was then called into action to claw away a goalbound Lowery header after a superb Kilmarnock break, although an offside flag indicated the effort would potentially have been ruled out.
It took St Mirren virtually the duration of the half to create anything at the other end but they could easily have gone in level at the break.
A fine Scott Tanser cross was perfect for Mark O’Hara, but he aimed his shot straight at Max Stryjek.
That miss was brutally exposed by Kilmarnock within 30 seconds of the restart, Curtis taking full advantage of a slip in the home defence to curl home in front of an ecstatic travelling support.
Their happiness increased 10-fold with 20 minutes left when Curtis scored a similar goal from a similar position – another instinctive, first-time finish from the 19-year-old World Cup hopeful, who is on loan from Rangers.
St Mirren could and should have pulled themselves to within a goal of parity before Kilmarnock’s third, but midfielder Killian Phillips shot wide from the middle of the penalty area when many in the ground were expecting the net to bulge.
Such wastefulness pretty much summed up their day – and general lack of a clinical edge this season – and it leaves Kilmarnock just one win away from securing their top-flight status.
