St Mirren returned to winning ways after a dominant 1-0 victory over Livingston in the cinch Premiership.
Sean Kelly turned the ball into his own net with eight minutes remaining in the first half to give Saints their first victory in four matches.
St Mirren, who remain in third place in the table, passed up numerous chances to add to their lead as well as having a goal ruled out by VAR in the closing stages.
Livingston find themselves bottom after another toothless showing.
Jonah Ayunga made his first appearance since January when he was named in the Saints starting XI in place of Ryan Strain, who has been ruled out with a groin injury. Stephen Robinson also welcomed back skipper Mark O’Hara, who missed the 4-0 defeat at Dundee due to illness.
David Martindale handed Michael Nottingham his first start for the club as the Livingston boss made three changes to the team that lost 2-0 to Rangers last time out. Jason Holt and Kurtis Guthrie were preferred to Luiyi De-Lucas and Mo Sangare, while Cristian Montano was unable to recover from a hamstring injury.
O’Hara glanced wide as the hosts began brightly, though they would find clear-cut chances difficult to come by in the early exchanges.
It was a pattern that would continue as the first half went on, however, St Mirren did have a rare sight of goal when Richard Taylor did well to find space on the edge of the area before sending an effort past the post.
Just before the half-hour mark, Mikael Mandron connected with Caolan Boyd-Munce’s corner, though he would see his effort deflected into the grateful arms of Shamal George.
Livingston had offered nothing in the way of a goal threat but they almost found themselves ahead when Nottingham glanced James Penrice’s corner beyond Zach Hemming and against the crossbar.
The home side broke the deadlock with eight minutes remaining in the first half, Greg Kiltie did well to weave his way into the box before getting a shot away which was parried as far as Kelly, who was unable to avoid diverting the ball into his own net.
All of the momentum was with St Mirren, and Ayunga almost marked his return with a goal as he looped a header against the bar just before half-time.
Taylor should have done better when the ball broke to him on the edge of the box shortly after the break, but he would blaze well over the top.
A low drive from Boyd-Muncie crept agonisingly wide as Saints looked to extend their advantage, though they would survive a scare when Taylor was forced to clear Guthrie’s goal-bound shot off the line.
Stephen Robinson was dealt a blow when Taylor was taken off on a stretcher after sustaining a nasty looking ankle injury – forcing the Saints boss to replace the defender with Charles Dunne.
The game should have been put beyond doubt when Boyd-Munce seized on a defensive lapse by Joel Nouble before teeing up Mandron who somehow failed to find the target.
Moments later, it looked as if St Mirren had clinched all three points when a scramble inside the box ended with Tom Parkes turning the ball into his own net, however, a lengthy VAR check led to the goal being disallowed for offside.
A wonderful stop by Hemming denied Nouble a dramatic injury-time equaliser following good work by Bruce Anderson, while at the other end O’Hara’s shot flew narrowly over.
Under-pressure Ten Hag claims Ratcliffe wants him to stay at Man Utd
Erik ten Hag has claimed Manchester United's new part-owner Jim Ratcliffe has told him he wants the Dutchman to stay at Old Trafford.
Reports on Friday suggested Ratcliffe, who now runs the footballing operations at United following INEOS' 27.7 per cent purchase of the club, had decided to sack Ten Hag regardless of the result of Saturday's FA Cup final, with the Red Devils taking on Manchester City.
United finished eighth, their worst-ever Premier League finish, this season, with Ten Hag under increasing scrutiny.
However, while hitting out at his critics in an interview with Dutch publication Voetbal International, Ten Hag claimed to have the backing of INEOS.
"INEOS told me that they want to change everything and that they want to rebuild with me," he said.
"This is what they told me directly."
Former Ajax boss Ten Hag also defended his tenure at United so far.
"United won the league for the last time in 2013, 11 years ago. But still they expect us to win every game while competing at the top. This club is not ready for that," he said.
"We were supposed to start building something and we made the first steps last year, but then you find out how big this club is and that nobody is ever satisfied.
"Within the club people were satisfied, but outside the club there was noise, [people] saying I won only the EFL Cup, lost the FA Cup final and finished third.
"Well, then you have no sense of reality. Other clubs had a much better squad."
Ten Hag also suggested that some pundits in England see United as "easy pray".
He added: "It's the biggest club in England and possibly in the world. The club is either loved or hated, there is no in-between.
"So when things go bad, they all start talking and talking with very big words. All this negativity from these so-called experts who don't have the capability to analyse something with facts, but who prefer to attack people to make themselves look better.
"And these same people were the ones who gave me a pat on the back last year. Last year I was able to walk on water, this year I am the worst manager in the Premier League?"
San Jose Earthquakes v Austin FC: Gonzalez hopeful ‘Quakes can start grinding out wins
Luchi Gonzalez admits his team need to learn the difference between competing and winning as they aim to bounce back against Austin FC on Saturday.
The Earthquakes currently sit bottom of the Western Conference with 10 points, having won just three games this season.
Gonzalez highlighted his team has no trouble competing with their opponents and is optimistic they can turn leads into actual wins soon.
"The result of the last game [against Austin], we didn't get the job done there at the end even though we thought we were about to, but we're competing consistently in any competition," he said.
"We've had the lead in eight out of [14 MLS games]. That does show you that we're ready, we're prepared and we compete. Competing and winning are two different things. We've got to keep working on our ability to make decisions individually, collectively."
At the other end of the table, Austin sit in third with 22 points, just six behind leaders Real Salt Lake after back-to-back wins over Houston Dynamo and Sporting Kansas City.
Head coach Josh Wolff was pleased with his side’s approach in recent weeks but urged them to keep up that level as they head into a busy week.
"We're very spirited, we're very organised and opportunistic," Wolff said.
"We've shown we can score goals, that's not a problem. We have to keep approaching games in a meticulous way, a responsible and disciplined way so that we can win."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
San Jose Earthquakes – Jeremy Ebobisse
Ebobisse has scored five goals in seven career matches against Austin FC. Only Jesus Ferreira (6) has scored more MLS goals against the Verde.
Austin – Sebastian Driussi
Driussi has scored seven goals in seven career games against the Earthquakes. No player has scored more goals against a single opponent than Driussi against San Jose since he joined MLS in 2021.
MATCH PREDICTION: SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES WIN
Austin recorded their first-ever win over San Jose on April 6 with a 4-3 home victory (D5 L2). There have been at least four goals scored in five of the eight matches between the sides, including a pair of seven-goal games.
San Jose has lost four of their first six home league matches this season (W2) after losing just twice at PayPal Park during the 2023 regular season. The ‘Quakes have conceded at least once in 11 straight regular-season home matches dating back to last year.
Meanwhile, Austin have won six of its last nine regular-season matches (D1 L2), including the last two in a row. Only three teams have collected more points than Austin’s 19 since that run began in late March.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
San Jose Earthquakes – 41.2%
Draw – 28.6%
Austin – 30.2%
Onana decided to 'stand up and fight' after Man Utd criticism
Andre Onana says he decided to "stand up and fight" after a tough start to life at Manchester United.
The Red Devils are preparing to face Manchester City in the FA Cup final for a second consecutive season on Saturday after a poor campaign saw them finish in their lowest-ever league position in the Premier League.
Certain players were singled out throughout the season due to their performances, with Onana coming under fire for a string of errors early on after taking over from David de Gea when he joined from Inter last July.
However, the goalkeeper was adamant he did not let the criticism get to him.
"I arrived as the best goalkeeper in the world and 'boom' it went down. It was like 'What happened?'," he said.
"But that is how difficult football is sometimes. It depends if you want to stay down there or stand up and fight. I know what I did to arrive here. I know who I am. I decided to stand up and fight."
Onana compared his experience to that of team-mate Marcus Rashford, who was left out of Gareth Southgate’s England squad for Euro 2024 after scoring just eight goals this season.
"We are talking about the same player [Rashford]. So now he's a bad player? No. You can have a bad season or a bad start, but the most important thing is how you end," he added.
"Rashy, for me, is one of the best players in the world. But he is facing difficulty. It's not only him and me, but the whole club.
"But he will come back. I know my killer will score some important goals for us. Hopefully, against City, he will score two, and we win the FA Cup."
There is also a lot of speculation around the club concerning the future of Erik ten Hag, with reports suggesting he could be relieved of his position no matter the result in Saturday’s final.
Onana, however, has thrown his support behind his manager, who he also worked with at Ajax for five years.
The Cameroon international said: "I'm not here to back him because he's big enough to back himself, but he's a really good guy, a positive coach and, tactically, he is good.
"If he had all his squad together, it would probably be different for him, for us, the club and the fans."
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
