Battling St Mirren overcome early red card blow to seal point at Kilmarnock

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Trever Carson came to 10-man St Mirren's rescue as the Buddies recovered from an early red card to earn another welcome point on the road.In a game with few flashpoints, the first came within the opening ten minutes as Ethan Erhahon was given his marching orders after raising his arm to Rory McKenzie.Despite their numerical and home advantage Kilmarnock struggled to open up the Buddies' steely defence all afternoon.The Paisley side could have pinched all three points, with Keanu Baccus missing a brace of chances and Alex Greive almost netting in extra-time.But it was keeper Carson that produced the pivotal moment of the game, saving superbly from Christian Doidge's late point-blank header to ensure the Saints returned to Paisley with a point from their first game of 2023.After 11 substitute appearances this season Eamonn Brophy was finally handed his first start since April last year.

He replaced Jonah Ayunga who failed to recover in time from the knock he picked up against Livingston.With Mark O'Hara suspended from that trip to West Lothian, Greg Kiltie was handed a start in midfield with Marcus Fraser taking over the armband.Killie made the brighter start in the Ayrshire sunshine, with Saints struggling to maintain possession early on.Their average start plummeted to a terrible one when Erhahon, currently at the centre of a transfer tug of war, was handed a straight red card for catching McKenzie's face in an off the ball incident.Stephen Robinson hooked Brophy and sent on midfield general Alex Gogic to try and steady the ship, with the Saints striker hugely frustrated to see his chance to impress cut short so quickly.Keanu Baccus battled well in midfield to recover possession on the half-hour mark, with Ryan Strain