How are the dozen Buddies out on loan faring?

There are only so many times I can wander aimlessly around my house in an international week, talking to the houseplants and asking the dog what he thinks about Steve Clarke’s team selections, before I need to find some sort of St Mirren-based lightning rod for my attention.

The Saints currently have 12 players out on loan, making good use of the SFA’s new cooperation system.

As all these loans have been to clubs further down the Scottish tier or across the Irish Sea, this leaves plenty to investigate in an otherwise barren St Mirren week. Or, so I thought.

The primary focus of the Buddies’ loan traffic has been to cooperation clubs Dumbarton and Clydebank. Dumbarton, sitting middle of the deck in League Two after five fixtures, have taken Theo McCormick, Thomas Falconer and Carrick McAvoy. Meanwhile, Lowland League Clydebank, flying high in second place, are responsible for giving young centre-half Billy Hutchinson his first taste of senior football.

However, despite both the Sons and Bankies having weekend fixtures, all four cooperative loanees featured in St Mirren colours on Saturday.

The Saints’ B side are outperforming the majority of their peers thus far in the new Challenge Cup league format, sitting above all but one of their fellow youth set-ups at the halfway point. This position was cemented on Saturday with a 2-2 draw at League Two Annan Athletic.

That side itself was weakened with the international call-ups of Evan Mooney (U19, alongside Queen of the South loanee Callum Penman), Luke Douglas and Ben Stoddart (U17) for Scotland.

Leading before looking to have fallen to a late home winner, the young Buddies rescued an injury-time point from the penalty spot – dispatched coolly by Struan Thompson, son of cup-winning local boy and BBC media darling Steven.

Highly-rated 18-year-old Lewis Hodgkiss, a recruit from the scuttled Accies academy system this summer, has had his midfield talents dispatched to Stirling Albion for at least half of the season.

However, he missed their Friday night defeat in Inverness to also feature in Annan for his parent club at the weekend. The same can also be said for Josh Farquhar, on loan in Cumbernauld though called through to Annan for cup duty.

Farquhar’s loan buddy Lyle Hunter joined him in the move to Cumbernauld, but featured neither here nor there on Saturday.

Three Championship clubs have also borrowed St Mirren players, though Partick Thistle (Oisin Smyth) had the weekend off.

Instead, all Saints’ eyes could have been on Dingwall where Ross County (James Scott) fell to defeat against Arbroath (Luke Kenny, though the young centre-half was missing from the line-up). Scott did make a late substitute appearance, though could only watch on as the Red Lichties captured the points at the death.

Patient goalkeeping understudy Peter Urminsky was loaned to Glentoran this summer to finally secure consistent senior football, though he has been left to ride the pine in Northern Ireland too.

As with all league fixtures so far, Urminsky was left on the bench for Saturday’s win in Ballymena. A club debut in the County Antrim Shield last Tuesday is all available to celebrate thus far on the Slovakian’s travels.

In the end then, for both positive and less positive reasons, 12 outward Paisley loan deals resulted in a sole James Scott substitute appearance during this international break.

Encouragement must be taken from the young Saints continuing to perform against expectations and B Team average in the Challenge Cup, though normal league duty for their respective loan destinations should hopefully bring further senior minutes in the weeks ahead.

Mark Jardine can be found at Misery Hunters

How are the dozen Buddies out on loan faring?

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