Stephen Robinson gave St Mirren players emotional motivation ahead of Premier Sports Cup heroics

St Mirren players were put through the emotional wringer by Stephen Robinson before their thrilling 3-1 Premier Sports Cup final win over Celtic at Hampden Park.

The Buddies boss showed his squad a heart-tugging video of their respective families before they travelled to the national stadium to win their first trophy since 2013.

Saints opened the scoring through Marcus Fraser after 90 seconds before Reo Hatate levelled for the Hoops midway through the first half but the Paisley side came again with a second-half double from striker Jonah Ayunga to leave over 13,000 St Mirren fans celebrating.

Midfielder Conor McMenamin said: “Unbelievable. What a day for everyone involved in the club, the staff, everyone.

“The manager made it special for us, pre-match, we had all our families, good luck messages and we were all crying pre-match.

“I didn’t think it motivated us, we were all sad getting onto the bus, but wee things like that. We talked it up to be such a big game for us.

“To come here and not win, it would have been heart-breaking for us, but thankfully nobody can take that away from us.

“We fully deserved our victory today, and we’ll enjoy it.”

Defender Miguel Freckleton said: “We had a little moment before the game where the manager showed us all the videos of our families and we were all emotional, and we knew what we had to do today.

“It was tough but it definitely gave us a boost of confidence.

“None of us knew. He stuck on a photo someone’s family first and he (player) started going (emotional).

“And I was like, oh, no. And everyone was ready for their family and then it was just a crazy feeling.”

Goalscoring hero Ayunga was pleased to write his name into the Paisley club’s history.

The 28-year-old Kenya striker said: “Speaking to a few of the boys and everyone was confident everyone thought, this is a great opportunity, 90 minutes to make history.

“Only down to us, we can control everything and it’s even better than I thought it would be.

“I was saying, I don’t mind who scores but to get a brace, obviously, is amazing.

“I’ve had that feeling all week, I felt it was special, We have an opportunity that may never come around again.

“I’ve been playing professional football for 10, 11 years, has never come around. So the odds are, it’s unlikely it’s happening again.

“So we had 90 minutes, same with the other boys, one chance to win something, and we grabbed it.”