St Mirren 3-3 Motherwell: Debutant Jardell Kanga rescues point for The Steelman after fightback
Report as Motherwell and St Mirren shared six goals in a thrilling 3-3 draw
Sunday 30 August 2026 18:33, UK
Debutant Jardell Kanga scored a stoppage-time equaliser to earn Motherwell a 3-3 draw with St Mirren in a pulsating clash in Paisley.
Goals from Tawanda Maswanhise, who also had a first-half penalty saved, and Regan Charles-Cook had the visitors in control in the early stages.
Saints, though, recovered and scored three times before half-time through Paul Nsio, Declan John and Samuel Ramos to lead going into the closing stages.
Motherwell had one final chance and Kanga, signed just two days earlier, lashed a volley high into the net to snatch a point for his new side.
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Saints manager Craig McLeish handed debuts to striker Nikolas Agrafiotis, signed that morning from German third division side Wehen Wiesbaden, and Calvin Ramsay.
Motherwell made three changes from the team beaten by Freiburg in the Conference League. In came Tom Sparrow, Martin Moorman and Charles-Cook for Jake Girdwood-Reich, Ewan Wilson and Seb Palmer-Houlden.
It took the visitors less than two minutes to open the scoring. Alex Lowry sent Maswanhise running through and the striker rounded Jacob Chapman before finishing well.
Motherwell passed up a brilliant opportunity to double their lead when they were awarded a penalty for an Alex Gogic handball.
Chapman, though, bailed out his team-mate by making a smart save to keep out Maswanhise's effort.
But Motherwell deservedly doubled their lead after 24 minutes. Sparrow's blocked shot fell for Charles-Cook and he curled in a spectacular effort from around 25 yards.
The home side got a goal back six minutes before half-time. Chris Mochrie's pass made its way to Nsio and the Rangers loanee applied a composed finish.
Saints were now on top and scored twice more to claim the lead before the break. John started the move for their second goal with a tackle in his own half and finished it with a clinical strike past Alex Paulsen.
Ramos then sealed the first-half turn-around as he latched on to Gogic's knockdown to give Saints a 3-2 lead.
It was just as frenetic after the break.
Emmanuel Longelo fired into the side-netting for Motherwell before Ismeal Kabia saw a shot blocked at the other end.
Paulsen then did well to keep out Eseosa Sule's low effort and Jayden Richardson was denied as the home side chased a fourth goal.
Sule and Jake Young missed further chances to seal it for Saints, allowing Kanga to earn his side a point late on.
What the managers said...
Motherwell boss Alfred Johansson:
"It's a great start to the game that makes me excited for this group of players. I'm obviously hugely disappointed then with how we finished the first half. It was really, really poor.
"I knew that the second half was going to be some sort of chaos because we have to score and they feel that they have the chance to win this game.
"And then we have a really open second half, which then ends with us putting St Mirren down and gaining momentum at the end of the game. I'm obviously proud and impressed once again with the spirit of this group of players.
"We keep on believing until the last second of the game. And to come back from that triple punch in nine minutes at the end of the first half and make it 3-3 - that's a strong mentality."
On Kanga's goalscoring debut: "It's brilliant for him to go on and score in his first game. I think he is a player that we know is a lethal finisher."
St Mirren boss Craig McLeish:
"This match revealed a lot about what I probably knew as well about their character. I love that about them. They stick to what we're trying to do and they don't give up on it. They play with fight and aggression and energy.
"I think it shows how far we've come as well as a group that we are disappointed with a point. You look at Motherwell celebrating a draw the way they do. It hurts right now (not to win), but it's fine margins in football."
