ST MIRREN welcomed a 1000-strong crowd for their final Premier Sports Cup group game and then kept them waiting before eventually sending them home happy.

Needing a second goal to ensure they would be seeded in the draw for the last 16, Jim Goodwin’s men seemed intent on squandering opportunity after opportunity to add to Jamie McGrath’ first-half penalty.

Four minutes into injury time, however, and Partick Thistle’s defence was finally breached for a second time, with defender Joe Shaughnessy showing the strikers how to finish.

St Mirren saw off both Aberdeen and Rangers on their way to the semi-finals of this tournament last season but Goodwin was relieved to have joined the big clubs in the seeded half this time rather than having to face one of them.

“It was crucial that we got that second goal so we’d be one of the seeds for the last 16 and avoid the likes of the Old Firm,” he said.

“We came close in both cup competitions last season and we’ve all seen what St Johnstone went on to achieve, so the incentive’s there.

“With results like this and a decent draw, you could be looking at going back to Hampden again.”

Curtis Main was the worst culprit in terms of the missed chances and against Premiership opposition St Mirren may come to rue such profligacy. But Goodwin saw no need to panic ahead of Saturday’s opener against Dundee. 

“I’d be worried if we were only creating two or three, but as long as we’re putting the ball in there we can keep working on the final product for as long as it takes,” he added.

St Mirren’s right flank was the setting for an intriguing battle between Thistle’s veteran defender Richard Foster and the home side’s promising teenager Jay Henderson.

Foster, at 35, is old enough to be Henderson’s dad and the former Rangers player was quick to dole out a finger-wagging fatherly admonishment after the wing-back had tumbled to the turf in the box.

Foster’s protests counted for little, however, as referee Alan Muir had seen a clear trip and awarded the penalty.

“I thought at the time that it was a penalty but I’ve seen it again and it’s very, very soft,” insisted Thistle manager Ian McCall.

McGrath nonchalantly stroked home the kick as he tends to do, the PA announcer so confident that the celebration music was playing before the ball had even nestled in the net.

It is no surprise that clubs are sniffing around a player who scored 17 times last season but the £300,000 said to be on the table from Wigan Athletic seems some way short for a 24 year old Irish  international with that sort of goalscoring prowess.

McGrath could have further burnished his reputation if he had claimed a second midway through the second half.

Henderson played him in with a terrific reverse pass but McGrath saw his first effort blocked before blazing his second over the crossbar.

St Mirren had begun to dominate possession by the time they moved ahead but Thistle still looked dangerous in flashes and ought to have equalised on the half-hour mark.

Brian Graham did well to fashion the opening but Jak Alnwick anticipated where the striker was going to place his finish and sprung to turn his shot around the post.

Minutes before half-time and the goalkeeper again was required to intervene, this time to repel a curling effort from Stuart Bannigan.          

Alan Power looks a player likely to delight and frustrate St Mirren supporters in equal measure with his unstinting commitment to policing his midfield beat like a neighbourhood vigilante. 

His tough-tackling approach undoubtedly adds an extra protective defensive layer that allows Saints’ more creative players to flourish but he also appears drawn to yellow cards like a magnet to metal. Pockets of suspension throughout the season already seem inevitable.

Both teams continued to toil in the rising heat, St Mirren unable to plunder the second goal that would have made sure of the victory with Thistle similarly getting little joy in their pursuit of an equaliser.

Curtis Main could have bagged his third goal of the competition after substitute Lee Erwin had successfully tracked down Charles Dunne’s long clearance to tee him up but dragged his shot wide.

He had another, more difficult chance just minutes later as he stretched every sinew to connect with Scott Tanser’s deep cross but couldn’t direct his header on target.

Main’s third and final chance was the simplest of the lot. Tanser’s delivery was inch-perfect but the big striker nodded his shot wide.

Deep into injury-time, however, the second goal finally arrived. It was perhaps no surprise that it was a defender who delivered, Shaughnessy in the right place to turn in Erwin’s cross.