Jim Goodwin was put through every emotion possible – but the St Mirren manager will ‘sleep for a couple of days’ after a Scottish Cup quarter-final win over Kilmarnock.
The game was decided on penalties after a 3-3 draw – St Mirren coming from behind twice- as the Paisley club won a penalty shootout 5-4 following Jak Alnwick’s save from Rory McKenzie’s penalty and Kyle McAllister’s effort. Penalty drama ensued beforehand though as referee Don Robertson pointed to the spot controversially for both teams.
It’s a return to Hampden for Goodwin and St Mirren after making the League Cup semi-finals, St Johnstone awaiting in the Scottish Cup last four: “It’s huge relief. I felt it very hard to celebrate at the end the way I probably would in a normal situation. We made extremely hard work of it and we picked a terrible night so poor defensively.
“It’s something we’re going to have to rectify before the next league game and then before the trip to Hampden to play St Johnstone. All in all relief, I’m delighted for the group, the staff, the players, directors and obviously supporters. I’m sure one or two of them will have been watching it from behind the sofa at times.
“I think it shows the character and the resilience and togetherness we’ve got in the group. Two semi finals in one season, it’s a great achievement for everybody. St Johnstone will be extremely difficult and people might have them slight favourites after they how went about the League Cup.
“But we’ll enjoy this and give the boys a couple of days off. I don’t want to see anyone until the weekend. I’m going home to lie down and sleep for a couple of days.”
It’s the first time since the 1980s that Saints have reached two semi-finals in one season, Goodwin adding: “Thankfully it was our night. These types of games are just about the end result. It’s great credit to everyone involved. There’s a hell of a lot of hard work gone on behind the scenes.
“I think everybody can see the progress we are making. Missing out on the Premiership’s top six by a couple of goals would have deflated many other groups and other teams would have switched off by now. But its testament to the character in our group that we have kicked on.”
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