McLean holds nerve to lift Buddies

Kenny McLean scored a 95th-minute penalty to earn Tommy Craig his first Scottish Premiership points as St Mirren boss.Saints appeared to be heading for a sixth consecutive Scottish Premiership defeat after Kris Doolan headed Partick Thistle into a deserved half-time lead after good wing from Steven Lawless.But Callum Ball came off the bench to guide home Jeroen Tesselaar's cross on the hour mark to claim his first goal for the club and St Mirren looked a different team as they pushed for a winner.It came deep into injury-time moments after Scott Fox had produced a brilliant one-handed stop to push away McLeane's 35-yard free-kick.Jason Naismith tried to fire the ball back into the goalmouth but Abdul Osman stopped it with his hands at close range and referee Willie Collum immediately pointed to the spot.McLean kept his composure to stroke his penalty straight down the middle as Fox dived to his right, finally giving Craig something to cheer. St Mirren made two changes as coach Gary Teale and Gregg Wylde came in. Adam Drury was dropped despite scoring their first league goal of the season the previous weekend, while Jim Goodwin dropped back to central defence at the expense of Marc McAusland.The Buddies made a decent start and Teale had a long-range shot comfortably held - but Thistle were finding space when they ventured forward and Ryan Stevenson came close with a low drive from the edge of the box.James Marwood had a half-chance to break his St Mirren duck after being set up by John McGinn 18 yards out but he sidefooted the ball over the top corner.The breakthrough came in the 22nd minute thanks to excellent wing play from Lawless.The former Motherwell player won some space and sent over a perfect cross for Doolan to nod down and into the corner of the net after he drifted away from Ellis Plummer.Lawless soon set up Doolan again with a reverse pass but the striker dragged a left-footed shot wide from 16 yards when some more composure might have produced a second goal.A low cross from Jordan McMillan just evaded Doolan as St Mirren continued to look vulnerable.McGinn had long-range strikes beaten away by Scott Fox either side of half-time and Craig made a double switch in the 52nd minute when strikers Ball and Thomas Reilly came on for Wylde and Marwood.Saints needed to make their third change five minutes later when Plummer went off injured and McAusland came on.The leveller soon came out of the blue. Tesselaar drove into the Thistle half and bent a long cross deep into the box to allow Ball to run in and steer a half-volley inside the post.Saints remained on top and McGinn came close with an ambitious chip before Goodwin curled a 22-yard free-kick not far wide.Ball almost grabbed an 89th-minute winner after more good work from Tesselaar. The left-back got to the byline and cut it back for Ball, who negotiated space to shoot but saw his low effort blocked by Fox.However, there was even later drama with McLean holding his nerve as Saints won the first of their two trips to Firhill in five days - with a League Cup tie to follow.