Scottish League Cup Odds: St Mirren Reach the Final for the First Time Since 2013
Kai Watson 
As Hearts went nine points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership, two teams waited to fight for a place in the Scottish League Cup Final on Saturday evening.
It was Motherwell vs St. Mirren as both sides looked to escape their inconsistent starts to the season to battle for a chance to get to the first domestic final of the season.
The first goal was filled with controversy as St. Mirren took a quick free kick more than five yards away from where the foul was given and with the ball still moving. It was Gogic that took it and he played a long ball over the top which eventually led to a corner. It was a poor, low corner which Gogic attempted to flick but it eventually fell at Mandron’s feet who controlled it and smashed it home, terrible defending but a good finish to make it 1-0 on 25 minutes.
The second was a screamer from Nlundulu, an attempted one-two between Mandron and Freckleton was intercepted by Watt but it only fell to the Englishman who turned and hammered a right footed strike into the corner.
Both sides had chances to score but in the 81st minute, Motherwell took a quick freekick and Charles-Cook drove forward before playing it out to Tom Sparrow on the wing who cut it back for Callum Hendry to slot it home and make it 2-1 with around ten minutes to go.
Less than five minutes later though it was essentially game over, as Jonah Ayung bullied the Motherwell defenders, played it to O’Hara who then laid it off to Mandron. The big striker passed it wide to King who linked well with Mandron, who was fouled playing the one-two, but as the Motherwell defenders stopped, the Jamaican international powered through but shot straight at Ward.
Somehow though, the ball bounced high off of the goalkeeper's legs and he, alongside Fadinger, scrambled to try and prevent the ball from crossing the line but neither were successful and that made it 3-1 with less than five minutes to go.
Then, to rub salt in the wound, Mandron flicked on a Shamal George long ball, Ayunga controlled it but had to slide it to get it back to Phillips. Clearly high on confidence, his first touch flicked it over the Motherwell defenders leg, his second touch from his knee helped set himself up for a looping volley which rattled off of the crossbar, what a goal that would have been!
Unfortunately for Motherwell, that wasn’t the end of the move though, as the ball bounced high, Longelo misjudged the flight of the ball and was outmuscled by Mandron. Mandron asked his strike partner to leave the ball to him then he curled a beautiful left-footed shot into the far corner and that was 4-1.
It was more than a deserved win for Stephen Robinson’s side as Motherwell just didn’t know how to handle their physicality and aggressiveness. That being said, St. Mirren also played some lovely football, which they don’t get anywhere near enough credit for, particularly around the 18-yard-box.
Jens Berthel Askou really needs to look at this game and consider how he wants to change formation/style when it’s not going their way. He stuck to his guns in this game and it backfired dramatically and you can see the frustration from the Motherwell fans all over social media.
As good as the football has been at times, it doesn’t always correlate to wins and in a Semi-Final, the performance doesn’t matter, winning does. However, Motherwell didn’t even provide their fans with a decent performance, the tactics were all wrong and, in all honesty, after the first goal, they were never really in the game.
It will be interesting to see how this result and the individual performances impact each team in the league but St. Mirren fans have a cup final to look forward to next month now!
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