First Team
Saints 3-2 Hamilton
26th October 2019
Two goals from David Wotherspoon on his 250th Saints appearance and a late winner from substitute Callum Hendry gave Tommy Wright's men their first league win of the season against Hamilton Accies at McDiarmid Park.
Mikel Miller had put the visitors in front and a late Steve Davies penalty looked to have earned Accies a point but Hendry's emphatic finish with two minutes remaining meant that the points stayed in Perth.
MATCH REPORT BY JAMIE MILNE
Saints welcomed Hamilton to McDiarmid Park on a sunny October afternoon looking for their first league victory of the 2019/20 Ladbrokes Premiership season.
And Tommy Wright's men started the match brightly creating the first opportunity of the match after three minutes.
Anthony Ralston's cross from the right hand side was met by the head of Stevie May but his header was straight down the throat of Hamilton 'keeper Fon Williams who saved comfortably.
Saints came close to opening the scoring in the 17th minute when midfielder Murray Davidson saw his shot from 25-yards-out cannon off the crossbar with Accies 'keeper Williams well beaten.
In what has become typical for Saints this season, Tommy Wright's men fell behind once again as Mikel Miller was sent through on goal by Adrian Beck and the Accies no.11 made no mistake slipping the ball past Zander Clark to send the visitors into the lead.
Saints responded well and enjoyed a good spell of pressure before finally equalising after 36 minutes.
David Wotherspoon marked his 250th appearance with the equaliser after his initial effort was blocked he reacted quickly to slot a right footed strike beyond Fon Williams to make it 1-1.
The goal spurred Saints on to finish the half strongly and they should have gone into the break ahead when Drey Wright had a glorious opportunity to make it 2-1 but the winger blazed his effort from six-yards-out over the crossbar.
The opening 10 minutes of the second half started quietly but sprung into life on 55 minutes when Wotherspoon's excellent curling strike crashed off the post from 25-yards-out.
Five minutes later though and Saints would hit the front and it was the outstanding Wotherspoon once again who found the net.
The wide man cut inside and curled a right-footed-effort into the bottom corner leaving Fon Williams with no chance and putting Saints ahead on the hour mark.
After nursing a niggle for most of the week, striker Stevie May came off after 72 minutes to be replaced by Chris Kane as Tommy Wright looked to try and find a third goal to kill the game off.
And it should have come minutes later when Drey Wright picked out David Wotherspoon at the back post but the man of the moment couldn't mark his special milestone with a hat-trick as he fired over from close range with the goal at his mercy.
Just as Saints closed in on a significant first victory, referee Alan Muir threw a spanner in the works by awarding Accies an 83rd minute penalty after Murray Davidson handled the ball in the area.
Substitute Steve Davies stepped up and slotted the ball home past Zander Clark to level the scores and deliver yet another sucker punch to Tommy Wright and his player.
The goal prompted the Manager to repalce Drey Wright with Callum Hendry going two up top in the final minutes in search of a winner.
And within three minutes the sub paid off when Callum Hendry fired the ball into the roof of the from inside the box to put Saints back in front. There were no more scares after that with Saints holding out for a vital three points and first league victory of the campaign.
SAINTS:
Clark, Ralston, Tanser, Duffy, Kerr, Wright (Hendry 85), McCann, Davidson, Kennedy (Craig 90), May (Kane 72), Wotherspoon
UNUSED SUBS:
Parish, Vihmann, Swanson, O’Halloran
HAMILTON:
Williams, McMann, McGowan, Martin (Mackinnon 57), Hughes, Miller, Gogic, Oakley (Moyo 62), Easton, Stubbs, Beck (Davies 71)
UNUSED SUBS:
Gourley, Hamilton, Smith, Cunningham
Referee: Alan Muir
Attendance: 2231