Stephen Robinson pleased to see ‘dominant’ St Mirren progress in Scottish Cup

Posted Sunday, January 21, 2024 by PA

Stephen Robinson was pleased to avoid an upset against Queen of the South and progress into the fifth round of the Scottish Cup.

St Mirren dominated their League One opponents and prevented them from having a shot on target but had to wait until the 71st minute to seal the win.

Alex Gogic was left completely unmarked in the box to head home Greg Kiltie’s cross and ease any nervousness amongst the home support.

There was no VAR in operation as the impressive Kiltie had two goals ruled out for offside, and Robinson believes both decisions were questionable.

“The two goals which were offside, the second was definitely onside,” Robinson insisted. “It was a great move, stuff we have worked on during the break. The first one, we think he was onside as well. It would have made the game more comfortable.

“We’ve worked on set-plays, we scored one, we should have scored three or four. They haven’t had a shot on target, so it shows you how dominant we were but they are a very hard side to break down.

“I’m delighted we kept moving the ball and getting it into key areas.

“It’s a credit to Queen of the South who were organised, as we expected, Marvin (Bartley) is a bright young coach. I thought we dominated the whole game.”

Premiership sides Ross County and St Johnstone were both knocked out by lower league opposition and Bartley was left ruing Lee Connelly’s glaring missed chance in the first half as Queens failed to record an upset.

He said: “If you get an opportunity then you need to take it.

“Lee was in a good area and on any other day then he probably hits it first time because he’s too close to the goal for the goalkeeper to save it. I would have taken it first time but I’d probably have sent it straight into the stand.

“Can I take heart from it? No, because I go into every game expecting to win it.

“I’m proud of the players but we are talking about a goal that was avoidable and a chance that we should’ve taken.

“I’m never going to sit here and say that I take heart from losing. I’ll never, ever do that and the day that I do then I might as well stop managing.”