Alex Gogic: Saints united behind Ryan Mullen after ‘disgraceful’ fan comments

St Mirren captain Alex Gogic stressed the squad were united behind Ryan Mullen as he hit out at “disgraceful” comments from fans.

The goalkeeper’s commitment was questioned on social media following his role in St Mirren’s 6-2 defeat by Celtic in the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup semi-finals.

The former Celtic youth and Morton player was again deputising for the injured Shamal George after coming into the team for the previous weekend’s 1-0 defeat by the Hoops in the league.

Mullen conceded inside 60 seconds at Hampden when Daizen Maeda charged the ball down after the keeper collected a passback.

He then went off with a thigh injury in the 15th minute with his side still trailing by a goal as 17-year-old debutant Grant Tamosevicius came on.

Gogic wrote on his X social media account: “I have seen some disgraceful tweets about Ryan Mullen after the game.

“Ryan is a top goalkeeper and gives everything on and off the pitch and by no means did he want to leave the pitch.

“Every player makes mistakes, it comes with the job, and I’ve made plenty.

“Unfortunately for Ryan yesterday he was unable to play on despite persevering at first.

“He does not deserve any of the negativity or accusations he is getting, it’s disgusting. I’m so disappointed that majority is from our own fans.

“As a club we win together and lose together.”

Expanding on his comments, Gogic said in a media interview: “I think Ryan just pulls his quad straight away. He tells us straight away, just don’t pass it back.

“It’s something that obviously we work on, the keeper is part of us, part of the possession. So we had to adjust.

“Obviously he thought he could have a good game, and obviously to get injured so early in the game is a disappointment.

“I said, just keep your head up, there’s nothing else you can do.

“This changing room, I’ve said it a million times, we’re all together, we’re all as a family, we win together, we lose together, we’re all there for each other, in the hard times and the good times.”

Gogic spoke to Mullen on his way of the pitch before offering some encouragement to his replacement.

The defender said: “For Grant it was a special moment. I just told him when he comes in, just enjoy every second, because you never know if you will ever come back.

“I just told him, if you have nerves, just relax, enjoy every second, it doesn’t matter if you make a mistake, just enjoy every second of it, because you never know.

“I’m 32 and you don’t come here often, so I said enjoy it, take it in and enjoy every moment.

“It’s special, the boys were over at him and especially the fans, and he did brilliant, some good saves.”

Gogic bemoaned “four crazy minutes” in extra-time after Mikael Mandron’s second-half double had got St Mirren back in the game.

“Sometimes that happens in football, they’ve got the momentum and it just happens so quickly,” he said.

“We had the momentum. Another extra five minutes, maybe we could get another goal and nick the game.”