Dundee had the ball and the shots, St Mirren the better chances
ST Mirren2 – 1Dundee 
St Mirren beat Dundee 2-1 at the SMiSA Stadium by turning fewer but better chances into goals, while Dundee's extra possession came to nothing.
Dundee had half the ball at the SMiSA Stadium, well above their usual 41%, and took 14 shots, more than their average of 11.3. They still lost. St Mirren won 2-1 with fewer attempts and better ones, which is a plainer story than the scoreline suggests. Most of Dundee's pressure came without the reward that usually follows it, and the match was decided by how each side used its chances rather than by who spent more time in the other half.
Calvin Ramsay put St Mirren ahead in the 20th minute, with Eseosa Sule providing the final pass. Sule added the second himself on 56, finishing a move started by Killian Phillips, and his rating of 8.4 was the highest of anyone on the pitch. B. Fink pulled one back for Dundee on 74, the only goal the visitors managed in the whole game, and the one that made the closing stages nervous for the home side.
Ball possession
St Mirren had nine shots, against a usual 12.8, so they were not the side creating volume. Their chances told a different story. Expected goals, a measure of how likely each attempt was to go in, came to 1.48 for St Mirren, a touch above their normal 1.33. The defence did the rest. Dundee's chances added up to 1.29 in expected goals, where St Mirren usually concede 1.99, so the home side kept the visitors' attempts below their typical quality.
Dundee's extra shots were not better shots. Their chance quality was about what they normally produce, so the additional attempts simply added quantity. Nine of their 14 came from inside the box, yet they scored once. Dundee average 1.4 goals away from home, which means one goal was below their usual return even after controlling so much of the ball. The gap between what they created and what they finished is the thread of this result.
Across the division, teams average 13.9 shots and 2.8 goals a match. This game produced three goals, slightly above that, while Dundee's 14 shots sat close to the league figure and St Mirren's nine fell well short of it. Neither side was short of effort, but only one of them turned its attempts into the kind of finishing that wins a match on the day.
St Mirren received three yellow cards and Dundee one, and every St Mirren booking came after Sule had scored. Neither side had a player sent off. Dundee conceded two goals, where they usually concede 1.1 when playing away, so their defence was also below its normal standard on the afternoon.
The table has St Mirren eighth on 10 points and Dundee fourth on 14. St Mirren's last six matches include five defeats and one win, while Dundee's recent away results have been two wins, two draws and two defeats.
Eseosa Sule1 goal · 1 assist
B. Fink1 goal
C. Ramsay1 goal
O. Bevan9 duels won