St Mirren rued a missed penalty in North Lanarkshire as Stephen Robinson fell to a 2-1 defeat to Motherwell after both sides were reduced to 10 men.
A Killian Phillips volley was not enough to see the Saints get anything from the game after a double from the Steelmen’s Lennon Miller.
Dan Casey saw red after he was deemed to have stopped a clear goal scoring opportunity from Killian Phillips, with Scott Tanser being sent off for two yellows.
Going into the game, Stephen Robinson made two changes to his St Mirren side that saw Steven Naismith take charge of his last Scottish Premiership for Hearts. Both fullbacks saw the switch with Tanser and Elvis Bwomono replacing Jaden Brown and Shaun Rooney respectively.
Motherwell made just one change from their Premier Sports Cup victory with Moses Ebiye coming in for Twanda Maswanhise.
Flares by the impressive travelling Buddies support were lit prior to kick off, and on the park, there was a quick spark too.
Just before the 10th minute mark, summer signing Phillips, sent the top tier of the away stand into an uproar after finishing Bwomono’s cross from the right with a controlled volley.
It was almost an equaliser for the home side minutes later as an unusual slack Mark O’Hara pass found Ebiye who went charging at goal but could only find the side netting.
The Buddies were under pressure from the Steelmen who looked the most likely to get the next goal. And that goal came just short of the 20th minute mark when Marcus Fraser was judged to have fouled Casey in the box, with referee Lloyd Wilson pointing to the spot.
After a VAR check confirmed the decision, a similar outcome from last week’s cup game saw Miller slot away from the spot and send Fir Park into a frenzy.
From there, both sides flirted in front of the goal with near misses from St Mirren’s Toyosi Olusanya and Miller having notable chances.
But on the stroke of the 45th minute, it was the hot prospect, Miller, who sent Stuart Kettlewell’s in front with a lovely right footed finish into the bottom left hand corner.
A leveller right on half time almost happened when a ball from Caolan Boyd-Munce was sent into the box which met Olusanya’s head but was saved by quick reactions from Aston Oxborough.
Similar to the first half it was all guns blazing for the Buddies at the start of the second 45 with a penalty being awarded to the Paisley side.
A header back across goal from the Saints saw the ball run across the face of goal and end at the feet of Phillips. He looked destined to score but his shot was blocked by Casey, with players and fans screaming for a handball – a decision the referee agreed with and sent the Motherwell number 15 off for stopping a goal scoring opportunity.
After a lengthy VAR check, Buddies Skipper O’Hara was able to step up but despite being clinical from the spot, the penalty was saved by the Well shot stopper.
It went from bad to worse for Robbo’s side as Scott Tanser was sent for an early shower after picking up a second yellow for a foul on O’Donnell – a player he got booked for fouling in the first 45.
Both sides made a number of changes to try and influence the game, with James Scott and Tony Watt both turning out against their former teams on both sides, and Greg Kiltie making a comeback from injury.
Motherwell almost doubled their lead right at the death through an Apostolos Stamatelopoulos header which was tipped round the post by Balcombe.
It was an action-packed game, with plenty of talking points as Robinson will look to bounce back from the disappointment next week when his side welcomes Dundee United to the SMiSA Stadium.
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