Saints keeper Jak Alnwick revealed he felt sorry for new gaffer Stephen Robinson after “everything went wrong” on his debut in the dugout.
The Buddies number one was powerless to stop Hearts from dishing out a painful defeat in Paisley, taking several hits in the process of making some stunning saves that kept the scoreline down.
Robinson was also helpless on the touchline as Connor Ronan saw red for a rash first half challenge, a decision that hamstrung St Mirren as their unbeaten run came crashing to a halt.
Alnwick insists his Buddies will quickly overcome the defeat, as he believes they didn’t play poorly but were simply on the wrong end of the big decisions on the day.
He told Express Sport: “Everything that could have gone wrong did.
“I felt sorry for the gaffer - man sent off, a penalty decision on Alex Greive that looks stonewall.
“I’ve seen it back - the ref has said to me he was already on his way down. It’s difficult. I was looking straight down the line of it and I could see he clipped Alex’s heels.
“I’ve not seen the red card back. But loads of different things never went our way. I make a save at the first goal and the ball falls back to him and the same at the second goal.
“I got studs down my arm, a knee in the face, a bit of everything but it’s one of those where I get there first and he clatters into me after the ball.
“Sometimes you get them and sometimes you don’t. We didn’t so it’s frustrating but we move on.
“You just have those days and you have to write them off. We never played badly.”
Alnwick stood up for his teammate Ronan, insisting the Wolves loanee isn’t the kind of player to try and hurt an opponent deliberately.
And he believes the new Buddies boss can still take positives from the painful defeat.
Alnwick said: “It’s such a hard one because Connor doesn’t even see him coming.
“The ref took a long time to make the decision. If it’s a bad one it’s a red straight away - I don’t know if the fourth official told him it was a red.
“We will watch it back and see if it’s worth appealing. Connor is not that type of player, the boys are saying that time him in the dressing room that it’s not his fault.
“The pitch doesn’t do him any favours, it bobbles up on him and he’s then chasing his touch. He doesn’t mean to harm anyone and I hope the boy is ok.
“It’s the first time in my career I’ve had a manager leave because he’s been doing well. It’s normally off the back of him getting sacked and boys being low.
“He’s tried not to change much, just his little input on things.
“He came in with brilliant energy, getting the boys going. Training was lively this week and really good little tactical things he’s brought in.
“He’s a brilliant manager and he excelled at Motherwell before.
“We trust him as much as we trust the last manager.”
