Greg Kiltie at the double as St Mirren ease past Kelty Hearts in cup tie

Posted Sunday, February 13, 2022 by PA

St Mirren eased into the Scottish Cup quarter-finals with a comfortable 4-0 home victory over Kelty Hearts.

A first-half strike from Alex Greive and second-half goals from Jordan Jones and a Greg Kiltie double ensured Saints’ safe passage through to Monday night’s draw.

The League Two leaders had shocked holders St Johnstone in the previous round but never looked like pulling off another upset here once they had fallen behind.

St Mirren went with the same starting line-up that had defeated St Johnstone in midweek, with Scott Tanser fit enough again to take a place on the bench.

Kelty, in turn, made three changes from the team that won 4-0 against Elgin City. In came Nathan Austin, Jordan Forster and Ross Philp to take the place of Dan Finlayson, Alfredo Agyeman and Scott Hooper.

It was the visitors who had the first chance of the game. Alex Gogic fouled Joe Cardle on the edge of the box but Michael Tidser curled the free-kick well over the bar.

Cardle then got into a good shooting position but saw his effort well blocked by Joe Shaughnessy.

The home side went in front after 16 minutes. Marcus Fraser’s cross was fired towards goal by Richard Tait whose effort was saved by Darren Jamieson. The ball, though, fell kindly for Greive to nod home.

The New Zealander followed that up with a low driven effort from the edge of the box that Jamieson saved well.

The game went into a lull towards the end of the first half, with Connor Ronan’s speculative left-foot shot going well over the top.

Cardle then looked for a penalty after being tackled by Saints’ Charles Dunne but referee Andrew Dallas was not interested.

Saints made two changes at half-time and scored twice within 15 minutes of the restart to put the result beyond doubt.

The first was a spectacular effort from Jones who scorched a shot high into the net for his first St Mirren goal, then teeing up Kiltie who spun before shooting low past Jamieson.

Kelty rallied and finally tested Jak Alnwick through an Alfredo Agyeman shot, before Kallum Higginbotham landed a free-kick on target but too close to the St Mirren goalkeeper.

Botti Biabi then shot high into the stand as the Fifers continued to push for a consolation strike but it was Saints who scored next, Kiltie rolling the ball into an empty net after a defensive mistake.