‘Hugely disappointing’ – St Mirren contact SFA after incident in defeat to St Johnstone

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St Mirren have contacted the SFA to seek clarity over VAR’s decision not to award them a penalty against St Johnstone.

The Buddies lost the Premiership clash in Paisley 1-0 to the Perth Saints as Bozo Mikulic’s goal separated the teams on the day.

But St Mirren have been left aggrieved after they felt Elvis Bwomono was tripped by St Johnstone’s Drey Wright in the penalty area during the first-half when the score was 0-0.

Wright clipped Bwomono’s ankle and huge shouts for a penalty followed. Referee Dan McFarlane had a decent view of the situation but decided to award a goal-kick.

This on-field decision was backed up by VAR Alan Muir and play continued.

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St Mirren’s statement in full

St Mirren have now issued a statement 24 hours later condemning the non-award of a penalty and have asked the SFA to explain their decision among others during the match.

The club understands human error is always possible, but they feel several decisions this season have went against them and it’s left the club ‘hugely disappointed’.

Their statement reads: “St Mirren FC is disappointed with the decision not to award a penalty in the first-half of yesterday’s match against St Johnstone following a foul on Elvis Bwomono.

“A VAR review cleared this decision without requiring the referee to look at the incident on the pitchside monitor. The club has spoken to Scottish Football Association’s Referee Department today seeking clarity on this and other decisions in yesterday’s match.

“Clearly, we are all humans and mistakes will happen. However, there has now been an accumulation of errors made against St Mirren.

“This is hugely disappointing for the club and our supporters, and we will continue to engage with the Scottish FA to improve standards of officiating.”

St Mirren lacking Premiership form

The defeat to basement boys St Johnstone on Saturday was a tough one to take for manager Stephen Robinson, who thinks his side haven’t drawn enough games this season.

He said: “We’ve not drawn anywhere near enough games. In a game like that where a team is sitting in and trying to hit you on the counter, then you have to make sure you don’t lose the game.

“And again, we’ve not done that as a group. When you’re dominating the game, you don’t concede sloppy goals like we done. There has to be a real desire not to concede. It’s a sloppy, sloppy goal.”

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
6	MotherwellMotherwell	24	9	4	11	29	39	-10	31
7	Heart Of MidlothianHeart Of Midlothian	25	8	6	11	34	33	1	30
8	ST MirrenST Mirren	25	9	3	13	30	39	-9	30
9	KilmarnockKilmarnock	25	7	7	11	28	40	-12	28
10	DundeeDundee	24	7	6	11	37	47	-10	27

The Buddies have just one win in their last six league games and haven’t recorded a victory at home since Boxing Day when they overcame Rangers.

As a result, they’ve slipped down to 8th in the Premiership with all of Hearts, Kilmarnock and St Johnstone gaining ground on them.