Stephen Robinson urges players to make St Mirren history in final

Stephen Robinson told his St Mirren players to go and make history after booking their Premier Sports Cup final place with a 4-1 win over Motherwell at Hampden Park.

First-half goals from Mikael Mandron and fellow French-born attacker Dan Nlundulu had the Saints in control but substitute Callum Hendry brought the Steelmen back into the game in the 83rd minute with a fine finish.

However, late goals from Saints substitute Richard King and former Motherwell striker Mandron, again, set up a meeting on December 14 with the winners of Sunday’s Rangers v Celtic semi-final at the national stadium.

The Paisley club are looking to win their first trophy since beating Hearts in the 2013 League Cup final.

Ex-Motherwell boss Robinson, who guided the Fir Park club to the League Cup and Scottish Cup finals in 2017/18 only to lose both to Celtic, said: “Clubs the size of St Mirren don’t get these opportunities often, as players, as staff.

“We didn’t want to make an occasion out of the semi-final. We want to make an occasion out of the final. We wanted to be ruthless and we were, which is something we haven’t been in the league. So we’re delighted with the goals and the finishing today.

“The fans will remember days like this forever. There’s a group of players and staff which gave them European experience, top-six experience, which a generation hadn’t seen.

“So I’ve said to the players, go and put yourselves down in history. You’ve got an opportunity now to be remembered at St Mirren for the rest of your lives.

“And that’s how big the occasion is to a club of our size.”

The Northern Irishman believes Steve Clarke could do worse than give Mandron, who was involved in all four goals, an opportunity with Scotland.

The 31-year-old qualifies to play for Scotland because his late grandmother, Margaret, was born in Aberdeen.

Clarke will on Monday name his squad for the final two 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Greece and Denmark.

Robinson said: “Steve will know all about Mika. He’s a very, very talented boy.

“He’s scoring goals. He leads the line very well. So certainly, why not?

“With his talent, he certainly wouldn’t look out of place at the national level.”

Motherwell boss Jens Berthel Askou admits his side were taught a “harsh lesson” by a clinical Buddies side but believes St Mirren’s first goal was a result of a “big mistake” by referee Don Robertson and his officials.

It looked as though the ball was still moving when St Mirren defender Alex Gogic knocked a free-kick forward before the corner from which Mandron fired in the opener.

He said: “I think it was rolling. I think everyone could see that.

“I think there’s enough officials around the pitch to see that situation and stop it.

“Especially because it’s a situation where they take advantage of the ball rolling. But VAR can do nothing about it because it (only) leads to a corner.

“So that’s how it is. We’ll have to accept that. Then we’ll have to set up and defend that corner better.

“Obviously it looks like a big mistake that leads to something decisive. But we’ll have to accept that and move on.

“We’ve had plenty of these moments in our games lately.

“And I think we’ve tried to learn from that. I’m more irritated about the second goal they get, where we don’t reorganise our team fast enough when we accelerate the game going forward. And that’s something that we have pushed and pushed throughout the season.”