On the one hand he gave credit to “a good St Mirren side” but that was balanced by his disappointment that we came away with only a point, especially after we equalised. He felt that we could have done better, particularly in the first half when Randolph had no saves to make. He was bemused that Wardlaw was allowed to rise above our defence to head the opening goal.
Hateley struck the post with this attempt
He was pleased with Blackman’s goal (who wouldn’t !) but said that it was not his best game for us but he kept returning to the theme that “we were better and deserved to win the game”.
The fact remains that the game was drawn and despite losing the opener in a game that had all the hallmarks of a ‘first goal the winner’. Although our away form has been decent this season, a point gained in Paisley or anywhere other than Fir Park is to be valued. We have lost only two of our seven games on the road – almost certainly top six form.
The team cannot be expected to be on top form for every game and we can’t complain too much if we manage to avoid defeat during a dip. Keith Lasley has been missing for a few weeks now and his return (still not imminent) might provide a boost. Until then we’ll have to stick to the task in hand and hope that we can persuade Blackburn to let Blackman stay a while longer.
We have Hearts visiting Fir Park next Sunday and thanks to $ky $ports we kick off a 2.15pm. A repeat of the 2-0 scoreline we secured at Tynecastle last month will get us back on the road.