UEFA CUP WINNERS CUP 1st Round, 1st Leg
16th September 1987
St. Mirren Park, Paisley
St. Mirren 1-0 Tromsø
MCDOWALL 2
ATT: 7,797
Referee: I Gorris (Belgium)
- Saints enter new European territory with their first match in the European Cup Winners Cup, a home tie against Norwegain part timers Tromsø, where the expectation is the Scottish Cup holders will run up the proverbial “cricket score” against their supposed inferior opposition.
- Those confident enough of such an outcome would have been nodding approvingly when Kenny McDowall scored after just 2 minutes, the forward pouncing to scoop home after Ian Ferguson had a long shot parried by Flem.
- However, Saints toiled badly after this to break down the Scandinavians, much to the frustration of the Saints support who let the players know of their disapproval the longer the match went on.
- Probably aware of the grumbling on the terraces, Alex Smith decides to freshen the team up after 65 minutes by replacing Frank McGarvey and Paul Lambert with Paul Chalmers and Norrie McWhirter, which should have been a routine set of substitutions in normal circumstances.
- However, this triggered a set of events that would almost lead to the club being relegated and would lose Alex Smith his job, as McGarvey and assistant manager Jimmy Bone had a verbal and physical disagreement going down the tunnel and into the dressing room.
- The repercussions of this clash prompted McGarvey to go on ‘strike’ and be out of the first team for months, during which time Ian Ferguson also requested a transfer and the dressing room appeared a troubled place for the rest of the season.
- Completely oblivious to this fact at the time, the Saints fans had also lost patience with seemingly everything and unceremoniously booed the team off the park at full time despite the victory.
TEAM LINEUPS
| ST. MIRREN | NO | TROMSØ |
|---|---|---|
| MONEY Campbell | 1 | FLEM Bjarte |
| DAWSON Robert | 2 | KRAEMER Morten  85 |
| WINNIE David | 3 | SOLSTAD Nils |
| ABERCROMBY Billy | 4 | PEDERSEN Tor |
| GODFREY Peter | 5 | ALBERTSEN Trond |
| COOPER Neil | 6 | NILSEN Tore |
| McGARVEY Frank 65 | 7 | JENSSEN Truls |
| FERGUSON Ian | 8 | RISMO Tore |
| LAMBERT Paul 65 | 9 | JOHANSEN Bjorn |
| McDOWALL Kenny | 10 | HOGMO Per-Mathias 89 |
| CAMERON Ian | 11 | JOHANSEN Trond |
McWHIRTER Norrie  65 | 12 | OVESEN Tom 85 |
| CHALMERS Paul 65 | 13 | OLSEN Kjetil 89 |
| WALKER Keith | 14 | HANSEN Per |
| GALLAGHER Brian | 15 | – |
| FRIDGE Les | 16 | – |
THE MATCH
