Dundee recover from Boxing Day County mauling with a 2-1 win over St Mirren.

The home side began the game brightly with Roland Idowu testing ex-Saints goalkeeper Trevor Carson after only 5 minutes.

The winger continued to make menacing, bursting runs forward and flashed the ball across the face of goal but there were no takers.

Dundee continued to battle but were forced into 2 early changes due to injuries to Jordan McGhee and Billy Koumetio. They were replaced with Ethan Ingram and Sean Kelly after 20 minutes.

From here the away side turned the tide of the game and the St Mirren defence found themselves under pressure. Ellery Balcombe spilled a cross from Oluwaseun Adewumi and if not for a combination of blocks from Alex Gogic and Marcus Fraser, St Mirren would have found themselves 1-0 down.

However it was not long until Simon Murray broke the deadlock. A cross from Josh Mulligan met the head of Murray who headed the away side in front just before the half hour mark.

Mulligan’s crosses would continue to test the St Mirren back line and if not for double, point-blank saves from Balcombe they would have been in further trouble.

The windy conditions made this a difficult contest but just before half time Marcus Fraser made a driving run forward before finding Elvis Bwomono. The Ugandan defender whipped an inviting cross across the 6 yard line which Toyosi Olusanya met with a diving header, levelling the game.

Half Time: St Mirren 1-1 Dundee

Chances at both ends gave a false impression of the way this half would go. Olusanya was sent through on goal by Idowu but his shot was blasted into the side netting. Straight up the other end and Seb Palmer-Houlden had his volley tipped over by Balcombe.

From here the game began to get scrappy with neither side managing to grasp a foothold in the game. St Mirren turned to their bench hoping to spark some well needed life into the game, introducing target men Jonah Ayunga and Mikael Mandron to the fold.

It was, however, Dundee that began to pile on the pressure and with 25 minutes to go Simon Murray got his second. The hosts failed to clear a free kick delivery before the ball was sent back into the box by Ryan Astley and Murray nodded the ball off of the crossbar and into the back of the net.

The rest of the half was stop-start and fizzled out with no clear cut chances. As St Mirren pushed for the equaliser, nothing would fall for them in the final third and stoppage time wouldn’t come to the rescue this time.

Full Time: St Mirren 1-2 Dundee

Both sides look ahead to tough matches to kick off their New Year. On Thursday, St Mirren make the short journey along the M77 to face Kilmarnock and Dundee play host to the Dundee derby, aiming to burst the bubble of their city rivals.

Teams:

St Mirren: Balcombe, Iacovitti, Gogic, Fraser (C), Bwomono (Penman, 82”), John, Phillips, Smyth (Boyd-Munce, 75”), Kiltie (Mooney, 75”), Olusanya (Mandron, 63”), Idowu (Ayunga, 63”)

Dundee: Carson (C), Astley, McGhee (Kelly, 22”), Mulligan, Cameron, Adewumi (Tiffoney, 90”), Murray, Robertson, Koumetio (Ingram, 22”), Palmer-Holden, Sylla

Referee: Nick Walsh

Attendance: 6798