Stephen Robinson ‘delighted’ as St Mirren beat Partick Thistle in Scottish Cup

Stephen Robinson hailed his St Mirren players as they put their league struggles behind them to defeat Partick Thistle 2-1 and land a Scottish Cup semi-final tie with Celtic.

A penalty from Dan Nlundulu and a Jake Young strike had the Paisley side in the driving seat at half-time and they did enough to hold on after Ben Stanway reduced the deficit in the second period.

It means a third appearance at Hampden this season for St Mirren who clinched the League Cup by defeating Celtic in December and Robinson was proud of his team for battling through against Championship opposition.

The St Mirren manager said: “It’s been a difficult season but one in which we’ve won a cup for the first time in years, just the fifth in St Mirren’s history, and we’re in another semi-final. So I think everybody would have taken that sort of difficult year.

“We’re going to have to be at the top of our game to beat Celtic. But if you’re going to win the cup, you’re going to have to beat them or Rangers along the way. We’ve done it once and I see no reason why we can’t do it again.

“So, we’re delighted. It’s hard to get through cup games. We’re playing against a superb Thistle side who are full of confidence, while we’re on a sticky run and getting injuries galore.

“Kion Etete got injured in the warm-up and Marcus Fraser is now going to be out for eight weeks with a dislocated shoulder. But we found a way and we’re delighted. We’re going back to Hampden again.”

St Mirren’s penalty was awarded for a handball against Robbie Crawford after a Keanu Baccus cross struck him on the foot then bounced up to hit his arm. Thistle manager Mark Wilson was scathing about VAR’s role in the award.

He said: “It’s an incredible decision. This is our first involvement with VAR. Things just keep changing. They keep trying to justify things. We have a VAR review show which is proving absolutely useless.

“Just get it right, it’s not that hard. I’m being told the referee didn’t see the angle where it hits Robbie’s foot and on to his hand. I find that extraordinary. Why would you not wait for all the angles or ask to see them?

“I feel sorry for Premiership managers who sit here every week and chat about this. It’s absolute madness. I feel sorry for the players. It’s deflating for us to lose a goal at such an important time.”