Dundee keep unbeaten start going with entertaining draw against St Mirren

Posted Sunday, September 01, 2024 by PA

Dundee and St Mirren had to settle for a share of the spoils after a pulsating 2-2 draw in the Scottish Premiership.

The Buddies twice took the lead through Toyosi Olusanya and Mikael Mandron but were pegged back thanks to goals from Curtis Main and Ziyad Larkeche.

The result extends Dundee’s unbeaten start to the season to nine games while the Paisley side ended a run of four straight defeats.

There were two changes to the Dundee team that drew at Easter Road last week with Main coming in for Seb Palmer-Houlden, who dropped to the bench. New Leicester loan signing Sammy Braybrooke was handed a debut as a replacement for influential skipper Luke McCowan, who joined Celtic late on deadline day, while Simon Murray took the captain’s armband.

St Mirren made a triple change to the team that lost to Celtic last Sunday with Caolan Boyd-Munce, Scott Tanser and Mandron replacing Alex Iacovitti, Jaden Brown and Jonah Ayunga.

However, the Buddies own deadline day signing Kevin van Veen was not in the squad.

The first clear-cut opportunity of the game arrived in the 21st minute when Dundee midfielder Mohamed Sylla hit a shot which Main diverted just wide of Buddies goalkeeper Ellery Balcombe’s left-hand post.

St Mirren then made a promising break into the home box but as Olusanya tried to make room for a shot, the danger was snuffed out by Antonio Portales.

However, St Mirren broke the deadlock in the 26th minute. This time Olusanya gained the upper hand over Portales, robbing him of possession before calmly slotting past Jon McCracken.

That lead only lasted four minutes with the Dark Blues hitting back. Buddies defender Richard Taylor allowed the ball to bounce over his head with Main producing an impressive deft finish past Balcombe.

However, St Mirren took the lead once more in the 36th minute when Mandron unleashed a stunning left-foot strike from 25 yards which flew into the back of the net.

Dundee had the first chance of the second half but Portales’ glancing header at a Braybrooke free-kick flew just wide.

However, the Dark Blues drew level in the 54th minute when Lyall Cameron played in Larkeche with an incisive pass and the Frenchman made no mistake, rifling a shot low past Balcombe for his first goal for the club.

Dundee then had a great chance to take the lead when substitute Josh Mulligan played in Murray but Balcombe produced an outstanding stop low to his right to keep out the striker’s shot.