St. Mirren

It's been a fairly forgettable campaign on the pitch for Scottish Premiership side St. Mirren. 

The club currently are languishing at the bottom of the Scottish top flight, and it's near inevitable that The Buddies will drop into the Scottish Championship.

As their season winds down, though, the club and its fans have done a wonderful gesture for a six-year-old academy player. 

Aaron Woodall, who was diagnosed with cancer in late 2014, is currently recovering after having a brain tumour removed. 

He's now been voted as the club's Player of the Year. 

Per St. Mirren fan site Black and White Army, the logic was explained: "Aaron's strength and courage has been an inspiration to all of us, and a timely reminder of things around us that are much more important than football." 

As a result, the youngster will receive a signed shirt from the club's 2013 Scottish League Cup-winning side. 

[Project Babb]

St. Mirren club captain Steven Thompson has issued an apology to team-mate John McGinn after impaling him with a spike in a training prank gone wrong.

The 36-year-old's actions will see McGinn ruled out for three weeks with injury.

According to the Daily Record, the incident arose after McGinn, 20, robbed Thompson of the ball in training. The latter picked up a spiked pole and threw it McGinn's way. It buried itself into his thigh, and the cut was bleeding profusely. 

Thompson, as reported by the The Scottish Sun, said:

I've been shocked by it, to be honest, really down about it. I like a laugh and a joke in training, but for something like this to happen is just unbelievable.

The pole went about a centimetre into his leg and he's obviously got quite a bad injury. The word seems to be he'll be out for around three weeks.

I think he's torn his muscle slightly and, while he needs to make sure it heals properly, there isn't going to be any long-term damage.

I'm just mortified by the whole thing. It was a daft prank. It wasn't like I threw the pole out of anger or anything like that. That's not what happened.

I threw it for a laugh, stupid me trying to be funny, and unfortunately it's anything but. It's a total disaster.

The club named McGinn the Player of the Year in 2013/14, and he has earned caps for the Scotland U21 team.

[The Scottish Sun, Daily Record]

A late Kenny Miller header handed SPL league leaders Rangers the Co-operative Insurance Cup after defeating St. Mirren, despite two of their players being sent off in the second half.

St. Mirren, second bottom in the league, dominated the game even when Rangers had 11 men, creating far more chances than the favorites.

The Buddies started well, as Billy Mehmet went close after dispossessing David Weir, and Jack Ross tackled Rangers' goalkeeper Neil Alexander inside the six-yard box, but the ball went out for a corner.

Minutes later the keeper was forced into a terrific goal-line save from Steven Thomson and the Buddies' fans could sense they could win what was their first final appearance in 23 years.

Again, just a moment later the Paisley side nearly scored when centre-half David Barron hit the crossbar from long range.

Rangers came out after halftime with a change in personnel and formation, but St. Mirren continued to dominate with Mehmet shooting straight at Alexander inside the box.

Things then got worse for Rangers eight minutes into the second half when referee Craig Thomson showed midfielder Kevin Thomson a straight red. A few hard tackles went in and Thomson seemed to be upended off-the-ball by his namesake Steven. The Rangers player then looked for revenge and caught the man late, subsequently seeing red.

20 minutes later St. Mirren substitute Craig Dargo made an instant impact when he was apparently tugged by 'Gers defender Danny Wilson outside the box, an incident similar to the penalties given in Man United and Arsenal's respective games.

The referee obviously thought the 18 year-old was the last man and showed him a straight red card. It seemed harsh, as his teammate David Weir wasn't far away and also Dargo didn't seem to have the ball under control.

However, the Buddies failed to make their numerical advantage count as Rangers dug deep, and a counter-attacking move in the 84th minute by the Scottish champions made them pay.

Substitute Steven Naismith picked up the ball on the half-way line and found Kenny Miller with a pinpoint cross and the striker found the back of the net with a fine header.

It was a goal worthy of any cup final, even if the victory wasn't deserved.

St. Mirren looked shell-shocked and Rangers held on for a famous victory, showing the sort of character a side needs to win the domestic treble.