Match Report
The table gap was wide: 15 points between St. Mirren (1st, 45 pts) and Hamilton Academical (6th, 30 pts). On recent form Hamilton Academical sat only 22nd league-wide over the last five rounds, well short of their 6th overall. Scoring rates set the scale: St. Mirren 7.4 scored and 9 conceded per game, Hamilton Academical 6.8 and 13.4, with the league averaging 2.25.
Hamilton Academical had not won in 8 games.
The head-to-head ledger counts 23 games: 6 St. Mirren wins, 8 for Hamilton Academical, 9 draws, at 1.7 goals per meeting. Hosting has counted for little in this fixture — the home side has won only 30% of those meetings. These meetings skew tight — only 22% saw more than two goals.
J. Beaton took charge of the match — our records show 100 games refereed with an average of 2.3 yellow cards per game. The venue was The Smisa Stadium in Paisley, with room for 8,023 spectators. Half-time and full-time told different stories: Hamilton Academical led 1-0 at the break, before 2 more goals closed it at 1-2.