Saints motivated by final defeat

25 January 2013 10:50
Marc McAusland claims the 2010 Scottish League Cup final pain is motivating St Mirren ahead of their semi-final with Celtic. The Paisley side face the Parkhead men in Sunday's semi-final at Hampden with memories of that 1-0 defeat to nine-man Rangers still painfully fresh in the memory.

McAusland was not among the Saints squad that day, having taken a one-season sabbatical with Queen of the South, but current Buddies Lee Mair, David Barron and Graham Carey did play as Kenny Miller struck a late winner for the Ibrox giants. And the 24-year-old centre-half believes gaining some kind of revenge for that defeat will spur on the remaining trio. He said: "I missed the cup final in 2010. I was away down at Queen of the South but I was there as a fan that day. I felt for the boys.

"They put everything into it that day and I couldn't believe it when they didn't come away with the result. "There are still a few of the boys who played in that game here and it's still fresh in their memories. "They want to make up for that. It doesn't play into my thinking as much as some of the other boys because I didn't play that day but I'm sure those who did will be focusing on that and will want to make amends."

However, former Saints and Celtic striker Frank McGarvey has written off the Paisley side's hopes of an upset. "I think St Mirren have got no chance of winning this game," said McGarvey, who won the Scottish Cup with both teams. "I hope they do well in the game but I just don't think they've got a chance.

"They played their poorest game of the season last week against Ross County, a 4-1 defeat at home, so (manager) Danny Lennon is going to have do a lot of work this week to get them back in shape and get their confidence up. "Celtic are just back from a week in the sun and came back and beat Hearts and Dundee United and scored four goals in each game. They are one of the top 16 teams in European football. "The only thing that can beat Celtic is being overconfident in the game and I don't think Neil Lennon will let that happen. I can't see Celtic getting beat."

Source: team_talk