It has been a season of ups and downs for St Mirren fans so far this season with the club now finding themselves 10th in the Scottish Premiership. It’s not the greatest of positions but it’s certainly better than some of the pre-season football betting odds that saw the club as nailed on favourites for relegation.
With little to shout about on the pitch this season, we decided to look back at a couple of the greatest moments in the club’s history to bring a smile to the faces of our battle beaten fans.
2013 Scottish League Cup Final: St Mirren 3 Hearts of Midlothian 2“Out of life’s school of war – what doesn’t kill me, makes me stronger.” That was the thought of German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche in 1888 and perhaps the mantra of the 2013 League Cup winning St Mirren side.
Inspired by the defeat against Rangers in 2010, the 2013 team would go on to sweep all before them in an amazing League Cup won. Ayr United were the first team to be put to the sword by the Buddies 5-1 in the Second Round.
A 92nd minute winner by Lee Mair in the third round secured a narrow 1-0 win over Hamilton. In the quarter finals things got very nervy for Saints fans as they had to watch their side edge through on penalties against Aberdeen.
The semi-final was another nervy affair, but one that will go down in history as one of the best in the club’s history – a 3-2 victory over Celtic. Had the trophy being awarded in that game, it would be top of our list today.
As it wasn’t, the final against Hearts – a more routine win than the 3-2 score line suggests – takes its place. Esmaeil Goncalves, Steven Thompson and Conor Newton were the goal scorers that wrote their names into Buddies history that day at Hampden.
1987 Scottish Cup Final: St. Mirren 1 Dundee United
In the wake of this game, Jim Reynolds in The Glasgow Herald described this game as, “a feeble final, the day on which the Scottish Cup almost died of boredom.” Feeble and boring as Reynolds and Scottish football may have found it, the 1987 Scottish Cup Final will live long in the memory of St Mirren fans.
Going into the game the Buddies were massive underdogs against a Dundee United side who beat Barcelona on the way to that season’s UEFA Cup Final. It was therefore remarkable that St Mirren managed to take the game to extra-time.
The Buddies dreams appeared to have been dashed when Iain Ferguson put Dundee ahead. Fortunately for Saints fans the referee adjudged Kevin Gallacher to have strayed into an offside position and ruled out the goal.
Not long after the surreptitiously named Ian Ferguson scored the one and only goal of the game to seal the Cup for St Mirren. That night 5,000 people took to the Paisley Abbey to greet their returning heroes.
The following day, 10,000 supporters crowded the streets to watch their players lift the cup. It was and still is, the greatest moment in the club’s history and one of importance to the wider Scottish game.
That final remains the last time that an all-Scottish team has lifted the domestic cup, a record that looks likely to remain for some time to come.