ST MIRREN manager Oran Kearney reckons his team were unlucky not to claim victory against Dundee, after a late penalty appeal was turned down.

The Buddies battled to a 1-1 draw at Dens Park on Saturday to avoid dropping to the foot of the SPFL Premiership table.

Simeon Jackson opened the scoring for Saints from the penalty spot in the 21st minute after referee Bobby Madden judged he had been fouled by Cammy Kerr.

READ MORE: St Mirren squad playing for our future

However, Dark Blues' skipper Kenny Miller grabbed a leveller in the 34th minute.

There was no further scoring, although Saints had an appeal for a second spot-kick snubbed by Madden after substitute Danny Mullen went down in the box following a Kyle Magennis free-kick.

The Gazette:

Simeon Jackson opened the scoring from the penalty spot with only his second Saints' goal 

Kearney said: "We should have had a second penalty. I have watched it again and we should.

"It would have been a lovely way to end the game.

"Kyle clips a free-kick in, the header comes back across and it is like the first one – Danny is between the full-back and the goal, he is on the six-yard line about to drill the ball and, as he swings, there is contact made, enough for Danny not to touch the ball."

Kearney also admitted he was disappointed with the way his players responded to taking the lead.

He said: "For 25 minutes after we scored, we got the wrong reaction. They got the reaction I wanted from us.

"Rabbit in the headlights, possibly – 'what's happened here?,' that type of thing."

Meanwhile, Dundee boss Jim McIntyre claims St Mirren were wrongly awarded the penalty that led to Jackson scoring the opener.

The Gazette:

Saints' were boosted by the return of midfielder Kyle Magennis (7) 

McIntyre, whose team remain at the bottom of the table, a point behind the Buddies, said: "I have watched it back. It is not a penalty for me, definitely not a pen, but the referee gave it and the most important thing was my players' response to it.

READ MORE: Kearney confident he can turn around St Mirren's form

"It was very soft, so that was disappointing, but the reaction of the players was great because it would be easy to feel sorry for ourselves after that because we started the game well.

"But credit to the lads, they dug in.

"For what we put into the game, we deserved to win. We had the stronger chances but we couldn't find the net a couple of more times.

"That was the disappointing factor."