St Mirren have to settle for relegation play-off despite win over Aberdeen

St Mirren were condemned to a William Hill Premiership relegation play-off, despite goals late in either half earning them a 2-0 win at lacklustre Aberdeen.

Both goals came following set-pieces, with Richard King’s opener rounding off a well-worked set-play in the first half, while Killian Phillips’ goal against his former club was far more scrappy.

However, their efforts were in vain as Kilmarnock’s win over Dundee means St Mirren will finish second bottom.

The home side were already safe from a relegation play-off following their weekend win over Dundee United and went into the game still aiming to leapfrog the Arabs into seventh place.

They were without goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov and midfielder Stuart Armstrong, who require operations, while Jack Milne dropped to the bench and Emmanuel Gyamfi withdrew during the warm-up.

Per Kristian Bratveit, Nicky Devlin and Ante Palaversa came into the starting XI, with Mitchel Frame stepping in for Gyamfi.

St Mirren’s 3-0 defeat to Kilmarnock at the weekend left the Buddies requiring a win and a Killie slip-up if they were to have any chance of escaping a play-off.

They were missing the injured Conor McMenamin and Roland Idowu dropped to the bench as King and Alex Gogic, back from suspension, came into their side.

Saints threatened first as Mikael Mandron outmuscled Liam Morrison and squared for Phillips, who dragged his shot well wide.

Aberdeen struggled to get a foothold in the game, with their main threat being balls into the channel for Toyosi Olusanya, but he was largely contained by the St Mirren defence.

Perhaps the only real moment of quality of a poor first half came three minutes from the interval when, after Dennis Geiger gave away a needless free-kick, Mark O’Hara beat Jacob Devaney down the line and, as Aberdeen failed to react, his low ball across was emphatically turned in by King at the back post.

Aberdeen brought Milne and Lyall Cameron into the fray at the interval as they sought a response and little more than 60 seconds into the second half the latter flicked a neat pass into the path of Olusanya, who should have scored but somehow allowed the recovering Gogic turn the ball behind for a corner.

Their bright start to the second period continued, but loose play from Geiger handed Mandron a chance, which Bratveit in the Dons goal was equal to.

At the other end, good hold-up pay from Kevin Nisbet set up a chance for Frame, who tested Ross Sinclair for the first time.

Two minutes later the Dons should have been level as Olusanya held off Gogic and squared for Nisbet, who fired high and wide from 15 yards.

Geiger was booked for another challenge on the edge of the area from which Gogic struck the crossbar, but Aberdeen failed to clear their lines and Phillips turned home a second goal for the visitors after Mandron fizzed the ball into the area with 10 minutes remaining.

That was Geiger’s last involvement as he was replaced by Graeme Shinnie and, with time ticking down, the Aberdeen captain saw a deflected strike come back off the crossbar.