Stephen Robinson vents on St Mirren penalty snub as he issues pointed 'nothing has changed while I've been away' verdict

Stephen Robinson says he’s mellowed while he’s been away.

But there’s nothing quite like Scottish football to get the blood boiling again as he discovered in his first game back as St Mirren gaffer.

The fiery Northern Irishman claimed at his unveiling in Paisley that he’s become far more calm since leaving Motherwell for Morecambe.

But against Hearts, Robinson was left fuming on the touchline at some of the decisions that went against his new club.

The Buddies were beaten 2-0 - their first defeat since Boxing Day - after goals from Ellis Simms and Cammy Devlin took the points back to Gorgie.

But Robinson’s team were reduced to 10 men early on when Conor Ronan was given his marching orders by referee Greg Aitken.

Saints then had what looked like a viable penalty claim turned down when Alex Grieve went down in the box.

And to make matters worse, Robinson was convinced that ‘keeper Jak Alnwick was fouled before Devlin hit Hearts’ second goal.

He managed to keep his emotions in check on the touchline after replacing Jim Goodwin.

But afterwards, he said: “The whole game was dictated by decisions – nothing seems to have changed since I’ve been away!

“For their second goal, Jak is adamant he had the ball in his hands and under full control.

“Everybody was surprised not to hear a whistle, including the fourth official because he told me.

“For the penalty on Alex, it looked like a blatant one.

“The red card in the first half changed the game completely, rightly or wrongly.

“I’ve yet to see it back but it didn’t look like there was too much malice in it.

“Conor didn’t know where the ball was and turned into the player. So that’s a real debatable one.

“Unfortunately, we have been done by decisions today. It’s probably best