St Mirren sink sorry Celtic's treble dream (2013)

(first published in the match programme for St. Mirren v Rangers, 27^th January 2024)

On Sunday 27^th January 2013, St. Mirren faced Celtic in the Scottish Communities League Cup semi-final at the National Stadium. The winners would meet Hearts in the final.

Despite having a poor League season and hovering above the automatic relegation place, Saints had reserved their best form for the League Cup tournament. After easily disposing of Ayr United and Hamilton Academical in the early rounds, they eliminated Aberdeen in the quarter-final at Pittodrie, where Craig Samson was the hero in a dramatic penalty shoot-out. Meanwhile, Celtic were excelling in all competitions and taking full advantage of Rangers' absence from the Premiership. Many of their followers and pundits predicted that a clean sweep of the trophies would end up at Parkhead that season.

The 48-page match programme for the semi-final was produced for the Scottish Football League by the PPL Group and featured Celtic's Joe Ledley and St. Mirren's Jim Goodwin on the front cover above the full match and sponsorship details.

The opening pages carried messages from footballing and political dignitaries and these were followed by a four-page review of both sides' round-by-round progress to the semis in narrative, pictures and stats.

"Highs and Lows" featured the St. Mirren management duo of Danny Lennon and Tommy Craig and their respective League Cup experiences with Raith Rovers, Celtic, Aberdeen and Hibs. A similar article entitled "A Born Winner" looked at Neil Lennon's managerial record with Celtic, noting that he had still to win the League Cup, having lost out in the two previous finals to Rangers and Kilmarnock.

The focus then turned to the players, with features on Saints' Jim Goodwin, Craig Samson and Gary Teale and their opponents Charlie Mulgrew, Georgios Samaras and Tony Watt. Four pages of pen pictures were devoted to each Club, either side of a centre page article on former Celtic player and St. Mirren manager Davie Hay, who had opened the scoring in the last League Cup semi between the sides in 1971 and who had lifted the trophy as Livingston boss in 2004.

Throughout the issue, single pages were devoted to "League Cup Semi Snippets", "On This Day - Jan. 27", round by round results and goalscorers for the current season’s competition and a list of all League Cup semi-final results since its inception in 1946/47.

"Contrasting Fortunes" then looked back at some of the fourteen previous League Cup meetings between the sides and "No Shortage of Talent" highlighted a number of players who had been connected with both Clubs over the years.

Features on the match officials and the team line-ups occupied the last two pages of the issue which surprisingly contained only three pages of adverts and was excellent value for the £3 cover price. Copies can still be readily obtained for around the same price.

On a wet afternoon and with slippery conditions underfoot, St. Mirren immediately set about a Celtic team who thought they only had to show up to win. Having not scored against the Parkhead men in their previous eight meetings, Danny Lennon's side belied their underdog status with an incisive opener in the eighth minute. Recent loanee signing Conor Newton dinked the ball towards the six-yard box and Portuguese debutant Esmael Goncalves' outstretched foot directed the ball in off Lukasz Zaluska's right hand post to put Saints 1-0 up.

Celtic offered hints at a response as Scott Brown, Gary Hooper and Georgios Samaras made chances but they were never convincing. However, on the stroke of half-time, the Hoops surprisingly snatched an equaliser when Brown crossed for Hooper to easily convert from close range.

Within five minutes of the restart, Celtic were awarded a fortuitous penalty when Referee Willie Collum harshly adjudged Jim Goodwin to have handballed a Lassad shot. However, justice was done when Craig Samson's right wrist batted away Charlie Mulgrew's tame effort from the spot.

There was no argument in the 64^th minute as St. Mirren got their own penalty award after Mulgrew clearly benefitted from the use of an arm and Paul McGowan, once of Celtic, coolly slotted the ball home for Saints' second goal. Five minutes later, Saints extended their lead when Steven Thompson volleyed home a cross from Marc McAusland to send the Paisley contingent of the 24,417 crowd into delirium.

From then on, Celtic never looked capable of hauling themselves back into the tie. Mulgrew concluded his eventful game by pulling a goal back from outside the penalty area but it was too little and way too late for Celtic and the tie finished 3-2.

St Mirren had not only reached the final, but had secured their first win at Hampden since their Scottish Cup triumph in 1987.