Killian Phillips Helps St Mirren Maintain Perfect Start
Killian Phillips kept his nerve, his form and St Mirren’s perfect start.
Under the Paisley lights, the midfielder struck again from the spot to edge out St Johnstone and keep Craig McLeish’s side sitting on top of the William Hill Premiership for a second successive Saturday night. Two games, two wins, three goals for Phillips. It already feels like his team.
Phillips delivers, Chapman stands tall
This was not a night of flowing football or chances traded at will. It was tight, anxious, and decided in the box at both ends.
St Mirren’s match-winner arrived on 73 minutes, born from a moment of hesitation from visiting goalkeeper Toby Steward. Declan John slid a forward pass into space, Steward moved to collect, seemingly untroubled, and then everything changed. Samuel Ramos arrived on his blindside, the keeper failed to adjust, and the midfielder was wiped out as he ran across his path. Penalty. No complaints.
Phillips barely broke stride. The run-up was short, almost casual, but the finish was ruthless as he sent Steward the wrong way to settle the contest.
If Phillips applied the finish, Jacob Chapman laid the foundations. St Mirren’s goalkeeper produced the game’s first decisive act three minutes into the second half after VAR intervened to flag a handball by Alex Gogic as he challenged for a throw-in launched into the box. Up stepped Jamie Gullan, looking to continue St Johnstone’s bright start to the campaign.
Chapman guessed left, went early and strong, and beat the penalty away. It was a huge moment, and the home crowd knew it.
A cagey first half, a missed opening
Before the drama from the spot, the first half had been a scrap with little to separate two sides who both opened their seasons with victories.
The one clear chance fell to Ramos. Chris Mochrie hung up a teasing cross, Ramos met it cleanly but directed his header straight at Steward. The St Johnstone goalkeeper could only push the ball up into the air and watch as panic broke out in his six-yard box. St Mirren swarmed the rebound, but the visitors hacked clear amid a frantic goalmouth scramble.
There was a setback for McLeish when Marcus Fraser limped off, forcing Liam Donnelly into action at centre-back. The reshuffle did little to change the pattern: competitive, committed, but short on quality in the final third.
At the other end, Simo Valakari’s side created little before the interval and then threw away their big chance just after it. Gullan’s missed penalty felt like a turning point, and he knew it.
Gullan’s mixed night, St Mirren seize control
To his credit, Gullan tried to make amends. He rolled a clever pass into the path of overlapping left-back Matty Foulds, who surged onto it and flashed a shot just wide on the run. The angle was tight, but it was a decent opening in a game offering very few.
McLeish responded with a double substitution that almost paid off instantly. Luke Thomas burst down the left and slipped in Jake Young, who drove into the box from the flank. As he pulled the trigger, Cheick Diabate appeared to have a grip of him, but Young still got his shot away, dragging it wide of the far post. Appeals were brief, frustration longer.
The pressure finally told. St Mirren again worked the ball well down the left, stretching St Johnstone and forcing them deeper. From that renewed aggression came the moment Steward misjudged John’s pass and collided with Ramos. Phillips did the rest.
St Johnstone’s response was sharp. From a corner, Diabate rose highest and thudded a header off the post, Chapman beaten. For a few seconds, the league leaders looked rattled.
Late chaos, but Buddies hold firm
The closing stages were anything but comfortable for the home side.
St Mirren hunted a second goal, pinning St Johnstone back and firing in a series of efforts that were blocked by a packed defence. Each clearance, though, offered the Perth side a route to break, and one such counter almost undid all of the Buddies’ work.
Ruari Paton drove forward and slipped in Gullan, the former Hibernian striker with a clear sight of redemption. Instead, his finish lacked conviction. Steward and Ryan Carr converged to smother the chance, another opportunity gone.
St Johnstone threw bodies forward in stoppage time, chasing an equaliser that would have felt like a heist after the earlier penalty miss. Yet the final dangerous moment fell the other way. Young broke free on the counter and forced a save, pushing Valakari’s men back into their own half once more.
St Mirren kept them there. They managed the final seconds with the composure of a team that suddenly believes it belongs at the top of the table.
Two games into the season, they are exactly there. The question now is how long Phillips, Chapman and company can keep this early authority intact in a league that rarely lets anyone breathe.
