St Andrews United: Manager Robbie Raeside majorly relieved as midfielder Micheil Russell Smith avoids second serious jaw injury

Smith, who was smashed in the face on 33 minutes by Arniston’s Ian McManus who was sent off in the game’s major incident, had been in the wars already in 2022-23.

“I’m just pleased that Micheil’s OK because the guy led with an elbow,” Raeside told the Herald and Citizen.

"Micheil has had a broken jaw already this season – in the first half of an away cup tie against Rosyth – and he’s had an operation and a metal plate put in his jaw and was out for a couple of months. I was really worried about him.

"In the previous incident, Micheil’s head turned and collided with the rib cage of an opposing player and I think that guy had to go off with sore ribs later in the game. Micheil managed to play the rest of that game with a broken jaw but he ended up in A and E that night and had an operation the following morning.

"He'd only been back a month or so, so it was great to see him bounce up after his jaw was hit again on Saturday.

"It was a 50/50 game but when they got the man sent off we dominated possession and chances after that and deserved to win.”

Saturday’s win was United’s 21st victory in their last 25 fixtures, during which time the second-placed side also drew three and lost one to seal promotion.

Raeside added: "I can’t praise the players enough, they’ve been fantastic.

"There’s no doubt performance levels have dropped in the three games since we’ve got promotion, but we still managed to win two out the three.

“Just look at Celtic, after they had achieved their goal and they had been at it for so many weeks, it is human nature to switch off a bit.

"I was delighted to hear that Heriot-Watt had lost one goal on Saturday because it meant we had the best defensive record in the league (30 goals conceded). We were also the joint second highest scorers (93 goals scored).

"It’s been a real squad effort. We were sitting sixth or seventh after seven games so their efforts to win 19 and draw three of their next 22 were fantastic.”