St Mirren 4-1 Valur
Rooney, 16 Haraldsson, 75 (pen)
Olusanya, 52
O’Hara, 65
Iacovitti, 88
By Callum McFadden at St Mirren Park
St Mirren defeated Valur of Iceland to progress to the third round of the Europa Conference League qualification phase on a historic night in Paisley as The Saints hosted a European home tie for the first time since November 1987.
The atmosphere as both teams emerged for kickoff was electric. St Mirren did not wait too long to give their fans a goal to cheer as Shaun Rooney headed home to give the home side the lead in the fifteenth minute from a Mark O’Hara corner kick.
While the Buddies dominated possession, Valur were good on the counterattack and could have levelled when Tryggvi Haraldsson saw a driven effort turned over the bar by Saints goalkeeper Ellery Balcombe before the half-hour mark.
The hosts doubled their lead in the fifty-second minute when Roland Idowu ran in behind the Valur defence to unselfishly set up Toyosi Olusanya for an easy tap-in much to the delight of Stephen Robinson and his staff in the technical area.
St Mirren thought they had a penalty when Olusanya tumbled inside the Valur penalty area on the hour mark but Danish referee Mikkel Redder was having none of it.
When the Saints did score a third goal, it was the highlight of the night as club captain O’Hara smashed home an effort from 25 yards into the top right-hand corner to give Frederik Schram no chance whatsoever.
The Icelandic side were given an unlikely route back into the game when Buddies full-back Jaden Brown brought Jonatan Jonsson down inside the penalty area to concede a penalty in the 74th minute.
Valur’s talisman Haraldsson duly converted the spot kick to maintain hope for their small band of travelling fans (approximately 25 in total).
Unfortunately for Valur head coach Arnar Gretarsson, there was to be no dramatic comeback from his side to spook St Mirren who added a fourth through summer signing Alex Iacovitti poked home from close range as Valur struggled to clear another St Mirren corner kick.
Tonight’s victory is St Mirren’s biggest victory in a single European leg and the win sets up a third-round qualification phase tie with Norwegian side SK Brann.
WFI player of the match: Roland Idowu – A thorn in the side for Valur and a key component in St Mirren’s crucial second goal of the evening that sent them on their way to victory.
St Mirren: Balcombe, R Taylor (Iacovitti, 72), Gogic, Fraser, Rooney (Bwomono, 72), Brown, O’Hara, Adeniran (Smyth, 72) , Ayunga, Idowu (F Taylor, 89), Olusanya.
Substitutes: Urminsky, Kelly, Bwomono, Kenny, Iacovitti, Tanser, Sutherland, Smyth, F. Taylor, Mooney, Jamieson, Scott.
Valur: Schram, H. Gunnarsson, Palsson, Antonsson, Larusson (Unnarsson, 63), Jonsson, Heimisson, K. Sigurdsson, Tryggvason (B. Saevarsson, 32), Pedersen, Haraldsson.
Substitutes: Agustsson, Kristinsson, B. Saevarsson, E. Helgason, Eyjolfsson, Unnarsson, O. Omarsson, Stephensen, Finsen.
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