Robbie ‘delighted’ with three points

A moment of magic from Barrie McKay broke the deadlock in the first half, as Zander Clark came up big in the second period, to ensure the three points stayed in Gorgie.

“I’m delighted to get the three points. It is always a tough game against St Mirren. They make it very difficult to get control of the game. They are very well organised, defensively strong and have great physicality at set plays.

“The first goal is always important in these games, and we managed to get it. I thought we had a few nice pieces of play in that first half when maybe the final moment just wasn’t there, but with Barrie’s, it was just a sensational finish.”

It was a clean sheet on his debut for James Hill and Neilson was full of praise for his young centre back.

“I thought he was outstanding. For someone who has only had two training sessions, to come in and play against a very good team and look comfortable on the ball, but also very aggressive and organising the rest of the players, I was very pleased with that.

“Garang is obviously just a young kid. We thought giving him 15-20 minutes and try to just build him up a bit, but you can see his speed of movement and his decision making is top level.”

Alex Cochrane was forced off with an injury on the hour mark, but the manager confirmed he was substituted as a precaution.

“Alex just had a tight hamstring. It was a wee bit tight at half-time but in the end, it was more of a precaution to take him off ahead of Wednesday.”