A dramatic finale saw Saints come from behind to beat Ayr United and march through to the semi-finals of the IRN-BRU Cup. 

It had looked like being an eerily familiar tale with the Buddies on top, unable to take their chances and then made to pay when Craig McGuffie squared for Andy O'Connell to put the visitors in front midway through the second half. 

But that was before John Sutton took centre stage. The striker drew the Buddies level when he volleyed in Stevie Mallan's tremendous ball into the box and two minutes later bagged the winner after Kyle Magennis' outstanding run and cross. 

The winning margin could have been even more by the end as Lawrence Shankland had a goal ruled out for a foul, however Sutton's brace proved to be enough for Jack Ross to celebrate his first win as Buddies boss.

Goalkeeper Scott Gallacher was back in the team at the expense of Jamie Langfield, who dropped to the bench, with Jack Baird replacing the cup-tied Ben Gordon in defence. Tom Walsh was among the subs as fellow on-loan Ranger Ryan Hardie was also cup-tied. Former Saints midfielder Gary Harkins started for Ayr along with one-time Buddies youngster Paul Cairney. 

Saints started on the front foot, David Clarkson not troubling Ayr keeper Greg Fleming too much with an early shot after he was set up by Lewis Morgan. Despite having plenty of possession, the Buddies weren't able to do much with it and a loose pass almost proved costly, Rab Crawford striding forward before testing Gallacher with a 25-yarder that the recalled keeper did well to hold. 

When Jason Naismith's dangerous cross was knocked behind for a corner, the visiting defence were only able to clear the set-piece as far as Kyle McAllister at the edge of the box and the youngster produced a thundering shot that Fleming palmed away. Ayr were forced into a chance before the half hour mark, Paddy Boyle forced off after injury to be replaced in the defence by Daryll Meggatt. 

Saints were beginning to knock on the door and great play from Mallan gave Sutton a chance, the striker recovering from a heavy first touch before his low shot was kept out by the stretching Fleming. The hosts were almost undone in the cruellest fashion when Craig McGuffie's shot was deflected up in the air and spun kindly for Alan Forrest, but Gallacher reacted quickly to change direction in time to save the attempt. Saints recovered and quickly forced a corner with McAllister's delivery finding Gary MacKenzie whose header bounced and spun back up, Fleming doing extremely well to tip the ball away just as it threatened to sneak under the bar. 

Half Time: St Mirren 0-0 Ayr United

The visiting keeper was in action again early in the second half, saving at his near post from Mallan after the midfielder had exchanged passes with Clarkson from a short corner. It was the forward's last involvement as he was replaced by Lawrence Shankland soon after, while Ayr replaced Forrest with Andy O'Connell. The Buddies supporters shouted for a penalty when Sutton hit the deck after being played through by Lewis Morgan, however referee Crawford Allan ignored the claims - probably the right call as Sutton himself didn't seem to be appealing. 

There was more for the home fans to get annoyed about moments later as Ayr took the lead. McGuffie did well to get away from the Saints defence only to take a heavy touch, which gave Gallacher hope he could get to the ball first. The keeper was able to block McGuffie's shot only for the ball to spin across perfectly for O'Connell to smash home from 12 yards to put the visitors in front.

A further Buddies blow was about to come, Gallacher accidentally wiping out Baird as he came for the ball and the defender had to be replaced by Tom Walsh, although the winger was getting ready to come on anyway. McGuffie, having done the damage for Ayr, made way for Mickey Donald. If it was a change aimed at shoring things up and seeing the game out, it failed spectacularly as Saints soon turned the game on its head. 

There didn't seem to be much danger when Mallan collected the ball just inside the Ayr half but he arrowed a ball into the box for Sutton and he hit a turning volley that gave Fleming no chance as it found its way into the bottom corner.

With the Saints support perhaps relieved at the prospect of taking the game to extra-time, they were celebrating another goal just a couple of minutes later. This time it was Kyle Magennis who was the provider, the youngster going on a tremendous run down the right before pulling the ball back for Sutton to sidefoot beyond Fleming and put St Mirren into a fully deserved lead.

Saints didn't have too much of the game left to see out and Shankland tried his best to make things a little more comfortable. First, he rattled the bar after a corner had been flicked on by Naismith and then he headed a Walsh cross beyond the grasp of Fleming, the celebrations cut short as the goal was disallowed. Fortunately it didn't matter as the Buddies saw the game out and booked their place in the semi-finals of the IRN-BRU Cup. 

Full Time: St Mirren 2-1 Ayr United

St Mirren XI: Gallacher, Naismith, Baird (Walsh, 72), MacKenzie, Irvine, Mallan, Magennis, McAllister (Stewart, 88), Clarkson (Shankland, 57), Morgan, Sutton
Subs Not Used: Langfield, Gallagher, Hutton, McLear

Ayr United: Fleming, Devlin, Balatoni, McKenna, Boyle (Meggatt, 26), Cairney, Docherty, Crawford, McGuffie (Donald, 77), Harkins, Forrest (O'Connell, 59)
Subs Not Used: Rose, Murphy, Hart, Wardrope

Referee: Crawford Allan
Assistant Referee: Alan Mulvanny
Assistant Referee: Graham McNeillie
Fourth Official: Gavin Ross

Attendance: 2,199 

Match report pictures by Allan Picken – © Allan Picken Photography.

Match Gallery Pictures by John Millar - © millarpictures

Scott Gallacher starts in goal for St Mirren this afternoon as Jack Ross makes two changes from the side that lost 1-0 to Dumbarton last weekend. 

Out go Jamie Langfield and cup-tied Ben Gordon to be replaced by Gallacher and Jack Baird. 

Youngsters Kyle Magennis and Kyle McAllister keep their place in the starting XI after impressing last week with the latter picking up man of the match. 

Kick-off against Ayr United is at 12:30pm as the Saints look to join Dundee United and Queen of the South in the semi-finals of the IRN-BRU Cup. 

St Mirren XI: Gallacher, Naismith, Baird, MacKenzie, Irvine, Mallan, Magennis, McAllister, Clarkson, Morgan, Sutton
St Mirren Subs: Langfield, Stewart, Hutton, Walsh, McLear, Gallagher, Shankland 

A weekly round-up of all the main stories that have appeared on the website this week:

Chairman Gordon Scott gave his latest update where he talked about some of what is going on around the club at the moment including the news that the St Mirren Youth Academy has been granted Gold Status for another year. You can read his update here.

Jack Ross gave stmirren.com his thoughts ahead of Sunday's match against Ayr United. 

Speaking of Sunday's match, you can read our preview of the game here and find all the match day information at this link.

17 year-old Kyle McAllister made his first start of the season for the first team against Dumbarton last week and impressed as he picked up the man of the match award. He discussed how he felt after winning the award.

St Mirren have agreed with Ayr United to let all members of the Armed Forces into Sunday's IRN-BRU Cup quarter-final for free. Read here for the details. 

Meanwhile there was a double dose of news from the St Mirren Fans Council yesterday as they announced that the SMFC 1877 Supporters Club will be open to non-members on Sunday for the game. They are also encouraging supporters to register their interest in attending the Fans Council AGM where they will have a Q&A session with the new management team and board.

Jack Ross knows his side will face a difficult task against Ayr United in the quarter-final of the IRN-BRU Cup on Sunday. The Honest Men travel to Paisley on Sunday for the 12:30pm kick-off to take on the Saints with a semi-final place at stake. 

The manager spoke with stmirren.com this morning to discuss the match and while he knows the Saints are up against a difficult opponent, he wants the players to show belief that they can win the game. 

Coming up as a part-time team in this league is a challenge, but so far they've had a very positive season. They've achieved some terrific results already - not just at home, but away from home as well so it's much like a league game for us. They're all difficult challenges and although this is a different competition, it's just as difficult a match. 

"Rightly or wrongly I always go into a game thinking we can win it," he continued. "It's the feeling I try to get across to the players and they have to start believing it as well. As long as you do it in a way that is balanced and you realise what you have to do in the game to win it. You can't just think because you can win it that you will do. I think it's important that they retain that belief that they go into every single match thinking that they're going to win the game."

The manager said that preparation has gone well this week and he's pleased with the standards being shown on the training field.

There's just been a wee change to the structure of our week with the game being on Sunday. Other than that we structure our week in the same way and today we'll do a lot of stuff working towards how we feel we can get at Ayr United and how we can deal with them in a defensive situation. 

"I think every week I feel better and more comfortable and I think standards have risen in training all the time, so in that sense it has been a good week's preparation."

Something previously discussed by the manager as he looks to put his own stamp on the team has been about trying to find a settled eleven. Throughout the season both Jamie Langfield and Scott Gallacher have been changed around and the manager has said he's now going to give Gallacher the opportunity to claim the number one jersey after starting with Langfield in his first four games in charge.

When you inherit a squad and a club mid-season you have to assess everything within it and one of the things that was obviously evident was that there hadn't been a settled number one throughout the season. I think allied to that, Jamie doing his dual-role while still wanting to be competing for the number one spot isn't the perfect scenario either.

"It's not a knee-jerk reaction on the back of Saturday," he added. "It's something that I discussed with Jamie when I first came into the job about how we re-structure things or look at things to try and get the most out of the goalkeepers we've got here at the moment. 

"We're going to bring someone in to do one or two days to help on the coaching side. But equally, having spoken to Jamie and Scott, Scott will have an opportunity to establish himself as first choice and it will allow Jamie to focus more on the coaching side and be supportive of him. That's not to say that's set in stone because Scott has an opportunity, he needs to go and perform. 

I don't think the situation was ideal and we've looked at what we can do to try and tweak things to get the most out the goalkeepers that we've got here."

The manager will still be without the services of Andy Webster and Rocco Quinn who remain injured and he admitted that there is no timescale for their returns. Along with those two Ross will also be without the services of Ben Gordon and Ryan Hardie who are ineligible after playing for Alloa and Rangers U20s in this competition respectively.

It's a 12:30pm kick off on Sunday as St Mirren take on Ayr United at the Paisley 2021 Stadium in the IRN-BRU Cup Quarter-Final. 

It's the third meeting of the two teams this season having already faced off against each other in the Betfred Cup in July and the Ladbrokes Championship in August. 

Saints are unbeaten in those meetings with Jack Baird's 90th minute goal securing a 1-0 win in the Betfred Cup tie, while Tom Walsh rescued a point at Somerset Park with an 89th minute header to cancel out Jamie Adams' first half goal. 

St Mirren have played Ayr United three times in the Challenge Cup with the Honest Men holding the advantage having won two to the Saints one. 

The first game came back in October 1992 as the Buddies travelled to Somerset Park in the first round. The hosts had reached the final in the previous two seasons falling to Dundee and Hamilton. It was a difficult afternoon for the Buddies and Chic Charnley's goal was not enough to prevent a Saints defeat as Ayr edged the game 2-1.

Saints travelled to Somerset Park again a year later, this time with a place in the final up for grabs. A double from Eddie Gallagher secured a 2-1 reverse for St Mirren and set up a final clash against Falkirk. Unfortunately there was no happy ending for the Buddies in the final as the Bairns won 3-0. 

The last meeting of the two in this competition came back in the 2001-02 season with Ayr pitching up at Love Street. They ran out 3-1 winners with goals from future Saint Gary Teale, Paul Sheerin and Eddie Annand rendering Mark Yardley's goal meaningless.

Saints path to the Quarter-Finals this season has been anything but smooth. The Buddies looked to be crashing out at the first hurdle when Albion Rovers raced into a 2-0 lead at Cliftonhill in September. Saints recovered before half time and eventually went 3-2 up, before conceding a quick goal that put Albion back on level terms. It took until extra-time for the St Mirren to secure their passage into the next round with Lawrence Shankland netting on 98 minutes to set up a fourth round tie with Hibernian. 

On the face of it Saints couldn't have been a dealt a tougher draw than facing Hibernian at Easter Road. Neil Lennon's side currently sit atop of the Ladbrokes Championship and would've have been favourites to win the IRN-BRU Cup when they entered. However, it was a memorable day in the capital for the Buddies as goals from Stephen Mallan and David Clarkson gave the then caretaker manager Allan McManus a win in his last game in charge. 

Ayr's passage to this stage has arguably been just as difficult as the Saints. They narrowly defeated Airdrieonians 3-2, with goals from McGuffie, Forrest and Balatoni sending them through to the fourth round. Like St Mirren in their fourth round clash with Hibernian, Ayr rose to the challenge as they knocked out Falkirk, seeing off the Bairns in extra-time. Gary Harkins scored with 114 minutes on the clock to send the Honest Men through and set up Sunday's tie.

St Mirren will be without Andy Webster and Rocco Quinn who are both still injured while Ben Gordon and Ryan Hardie are cup-tied. 

Sunday's game will be a massive one, with both sides knowing that a win will leave them within touching distance of the final. Saints have won the trophy and been in the semi-final in their last two forays into this competition and will be looking to maintain that good run. Meanwhile Ayr will be looking to complement what has been a strong start to Championship life under Ian McCall. It's all to play for. 

All the match day information can be found here.

Our match day programme, published in partnership with Curtis Sport, will be available from the Club Shop ahead of Sunday’s game.

This issue, for the IRN-BRU, Quarter-Final tie against Ayr United, is a 16 pager with a £1.50 cover price.

The latest edition includes the following:

Front Cover – Lawrence Shankland.
The Gaffer - St Mirren manager Jack Ross with his pre match message for the fans.
Buddies News Update – News of the latest happenings in and around the Paisley 2021 Stadium.
How They Got Here... Ayr United – Kyle Gunn looks at the path Ayr United paved to Sunday's quarter-final tie.
The Opposition – Brian Corry gives the lowdown on Sunday’s visitors – Ian McCall's Ayr United side.
Player Interview – Stuart Gillespie talks with St Mirren captain Andy Webster.
How They Got Here... St Mirren – Kyle Gunn looks back on St Mirren's cup run that has lead to Sunday's quarter-final tie with Ayr United.
Kit Sponsors 2016/17.
Team Lines – The two squads and match officials for Saturday’s match.

To buy this issue or to place your programme subscription for the 2016/17 season click HERE.

If you live outside the UK & Ireland, St Mirren TV is your way to watch Paisley’s top football side live in action each and every home match day.

This service, which is delivered by media students from the University of the West of Scotland, will cover all of St Mirren’s home games in the Ladbrokes Championship and the IRN-BRU Cup.

As usual the St Mirren TV team will be presenting all the action from the Paisley 2021 Stadium when Ayr United are the visitors on Sunday afternoon.

If you want to tune in here is the info you will need:

St Mirren v Ayr United
IRN-BRU Cup, Quarter-Final
Venue: Paisley 2021 Stadium, Paisley
Date: Sunday 13th November 2016
Kick-off: 12:30pm GMT

To access this match day service:

1 Day Pass – €6.99 EUR
Season Pass – €69.99 EUR

To view Terms & Conditions and get started with St Mirren TV please click HERE.

For technical support with St Mirren TV please e-mail tvsupport@stmirren.com

Paisley Panda is pleased to confirm that the fun half-time competition ‘Bung a Baw’ will be back for this Sunday’s match against Ayr United.

To take part in ‘Bung a Baw’ fans need to purchase a small foam ball which is numbered and they will then have a chance to throw their ball towards our club mascot Paisley Panda in front of the Family Stand. Each person will have 60 seconds to do this and the winner will be the person who has thrown the ball closest to the feet of the Panda with the winner being confirmed over the PA system.

The competition is sponsored by The Linwood Farm Restaurant who are supplying a family meal voucher as the prize for the contest winner.

Each ball will cost £1 to buy. The balls will be available from sellers inside the Family Stand in the 30 minutes leading up to kick-off and then again in the first 5 minutes of half time before the competition starts (subject to availability). Each ball is numbered and participants will also get a ticket with the corresponding number which they will use to claim the prize if they win.

Paisley Panda reports that ‘Bung a Baw’ has been very busy the last few home games so he advises that you get in early on Sunday to purchase your ball to take part.

Paisley Panda has also teamed up with the St Mirren Club Shop so you will be able to buy hats and scarves for the game from the 'Bung a Baw' stands.

St Mirren and Ayr United will both commemorate Remembrance Sunday when the sides meet in the quarter-final of the IRN-BRU Cup on Sunday 13th November at the The Paisley 2021 Stadium.

Both sides, match officials and veterans from Erskine Hospital will be lead out by a piper to the touchline and a minute’s silence will be observed ahead of kick-off.

St Mirren and Ayr United are also offering free entry to the match to serving and former Forces personnel/veterans who show ID as proof of their service status. 

On the day the players from both squads will also be wearing a poppy - the world-recognised symbol of remembrance - on their shirt to show their support for the 2016 Scottish Poppy Appeal.

We are giving fans the opportunity to vote for the man of the match and also put two lucky fans in with the chance of winning a £10 voucher for the Club Shop.

Every home game we’ll throw open the voting on the 60 minute mark for 20 minutes where votes can be cast on Facebook and Twitter. All you have to do is use the hashtag #SMFCMOM followed by the name of the player you are voting for, eg ‘#SMFCMOM MALLAN’.

With 10 minutes of the game remaining all the votes will be counted then Stadium Announcer Phil Clark will confirm the winning player over the tannoy system.

From all the fans who nominate the winning player one will be picked at random from the Facebook account and another from the Twitter account and they will each be awarded a £10 voucher for the Club Shop. The winners will be notified through the account they posted from.

So get yourself ready on the hour mark of Sunday’s game against Ayr United and get voting with #SMFCMOM.