21,277 gathered in the national stadium to witness the mouthwatering showdown between St Mirren and Motherwell on Saturday (1st November).
Pre-match, there was plenty of talk regarding the difference in styles between the two sides, with plenty criticising St Mirren’s style and praising their opponents. Post-match, Robinson insisted that these comments didn’t get to him and that all his “motivation” came from wanting to show how good his players are.
This motivation wasn’t shown early in the game however as Motherwell controlled the first 20 minutes. Whilst neither side created anything clean cut, Motherwell had the share of the possession.
The Buddies’ fortune soon changed, with a controversial opener coming 25 minutes into the game. The Paisley side won a free kick on the halfway line and took it while the ball was moving, according to Jens Bethal Askou and the Motherwell players, but not according to referee Don Robertson.
This free kick led to them winning a corner. No excuses regarding the corner for the Steelmen, as Declan John’s inswinger found Alex Gogic for the flick on and Mikael Mandron managed to take a touch and fire it home to open the scoring.
After the goal there was a lull in the game with Motherwell having lots of possession but no sign of intent and only managing one long shot from Stamatelopoulos which forced a comfortable save for Shamal George.
However, this lull only lasted 15 minutes as St Mirren doubled their advantage with a brilliant strike from Dan Nlundulu on the edge of the box assisted by his fellow French born striker Mandron.
The score was St Mirren 2-0 Motherwell going into half time.
Motherwell made a change at the interval with Stephen Welsh replacing Liam Gordon at the back.
Much like the first half, Motherwell had the possession but the one difference from the previous 45 minutes was that they looked a lot more forward thinking and created some huge chances that the likes of Maswanhise, Watt and substitute Slattery couldn’t take.
On the 75th minute, St Mirren’s next chance came from Motherwell’s chaotic approach to playing out from the back which led to Well’s Elliot Watt being tackled in his own penalty box who gifted Mandron a huge chance to put the game out of sight which he uncharacteristically wasted.
And then, against the run of play, super-sub Callum Hendry converted from a beautiful Motherwell move in the 83rd minute to offer his side a glimmer of hope, getting on the end of a pass from Tom Sparrow.
But any hopes of a comeback were short lived after an excellent one-two from King and Mandron set up St. Mirren’s third thanks to King slotting it home. The final was now in sight.
And following that assist and his earlier goal, Mandron was hungry for more – he netted his second after Killian Phillips came so close to a Puskas contender hitting the crossbar but the ball landed kindly for the forward who was able to put St Mirren 4-1 up.
The Buddies’ fans could properly celebrate now as they knew that they would be coming back to the national stadium on the 14th December for only their second major final in 12 years.
