Ayunga hails his mate Tait and hopes Wonder goal can now spark Buddies into life

ON a sweltering day in Paisley, an unlikely hero emerged to turn up the heat on rockbottom Ross County. A match featuring several water breaks on account of the soaring temperatures had failed to get going when Josh Sims tackled Jonah Ayunga at the edge of the box five minutes after the break. The ball fell perfectly for Richard Tait, who bent a quite glorious shot around a ruck of players and into the postage-stamp corner of the County net.

It was a goal worthy of winning any match and it will give St Mirren’s players a muchneeded confidence boost after starting the league season with consecutive losses to Motherwell and Aberdeen. ‘It was a good finish by Richard,’ said Ayunga. ‘I watched the ball go all the way into the corner. He actually does that in training regularly but it’s good that he did it in a game. ‘I think we deserved the win. It’s early in the season, but it was very important to get points on the board and to be able to look at the league table rather than avoiding it. ‘I think any panic is more outside the club than inside. Results have not been what we have wanted but we know performance-wise it’s been there.’

Ayunga had come closest to opening the scoring in the first half when his angled drive from the right left the post shaking. The summer signing from Morcambe was unable to get on the scoresheet, but five goals in seven appearances so far has made for a decent start to life in Paisley. He said: ‘I’ve scored five but they are gone now. Every game is a new game and I’m gutted the one in the first half didn’t go in. ‘My targets will stay the same.

I’m not saying what my targets are but it’s got to be double figures at least. ‘Today is probably the best I’ve performed in a St Mirren shirt, but I need to keep going.’ Tait’s goal was no more than Saints deserved — but County did come close to a leveller when Owura Edwards dived full-length to meet a cross by Callum Johnson, only to see the ball hit the outside of the post. Saints looked the more likely team to add to the scoring, but it required some late heroics from goalkeeper Trevor Carson to secure the win when he saved from substitute Kazeem Olaigbe. Malky Mackay’s side earned praise for the way they played in defeat to Hearts at Tynecastle and in pushing Celtic all the way before losing 3-1 in Dingwall. But they were second best here and rarely troubled the St Mirren defence. Afterwards, midfielder David Cancola urged his side to heed the early-season warning. ‘We have had plaudits and we did do well against Hearts and

Celtic but still got no points,’ he said. ‘Those are different games to the likes of St Mirren away. These are the games we have to win to reach our goals this season. ‘We will look at it when we review the video and hopefully learn our lessons and do better next time. ‘From the start to the end, it felt like St Mirren were winning the second balls and the battle. ‘We knew we had to come here and face that type of game as St Mirren play that way at times. But we didn’t handle that and we know that we have to do better.’ County failed to win in their opening ten games last season and went on to finish sixth. Cancola hopes his side are not waiting that long this season to get off the mark. ‘We have to try to get three points and get the season up and running,’ said the Austrian. ‘We have to make sure next week we win the 50-50s and play our own game. ‘We have to improve, we know that, but there’s no reason to panic. It is a tough league but we are confident we will get the points we need.’

ST MIRREN (3-5-2): Carson 6; Fraser 6, Shaughnessy 6, Dunne 6; Strain 6, Baccus 7, Erhahon 6 (Flynn 87), Kiltie 6 (O’Hara 69), Tait 7; Ayunga 7 (Greive 90), Main 6 (Brophy 69). Subs not used: Urminsky, Henderson, Olusanya, Offord, Kenny. Booked: Fraser. ROSS COUNTY (4-2-3-1): Laidlaw 6; Johnson 6, Baldwin 6, Iacovitti 6, Purrington 5 (Harmon 46); Callachan 6, Cancola 6 (Dhanda 77); Sims 6 (Paton 86), Samuel 5 (White 46), Edwards 6; Hiwula 5 (Olaigbe 59). Subs not used: Eastwood, Loturi, Watson, Tillson. Booked: Baldwin. Man of the match: Richard Tait. Referee: Grant Irvine.