St Mirren went marching on in the Premier Sports Cup after five perfect penalties saw us prevail over Hearts at The SMiSA Stadium.
Richard King, Marcus Fraser, Roland Idowu and Evan Mooney all netted, while Shamal George saved from Claudio Braga. That allowed Malik Dijksteel to step up and score on his home debut to send the Buddies through to the quarters-finals.
Saints were brilliant in the opening stages with Mikael Mandron forcing a good save from Zander Clark at the goalkeeper's near post on 12 minutes. Three minutes later, Jayden Richardson got in behind the Hearts defence and broke down the right-hand channel. He worked his way into the box and could have potentially went alone, but elected to try and find Jonah Ayunga in the middle of the box. The full-back didn't put enough on the pass and that allowed the Hearts defence to clear.
Killian Phillips had a go from from distance on 25 minutes and forced a decent stop from Clark who got two strong hands behind it to push away.
Alex Gogic opened the scoring with just over 10 minutes of the first-half remaining. Phillips took a quick free-kick to Declan John who swung in a terrific ball to find the Cypriot defender. Gogic had acres of space and scored in stunning fashion with a scissor kick volley beyond Clark to give Saints a well-deserved lead.
Alex Gogic scored a brilliant effort to give Saints the lead (Image: Craig Brown)
Tomas Magnusson was lucky to escape a second yellow card for the visitors a minute later. The midfielder, who was booked for a foul on Mark O'Hara on five minutes, should have been cautioned again when pulled down Keanu Baccus.
Declan John was then the recipient of a harsh booking when he was shown yellow after what looked like a good challenge to win the ball from Pierre Kabore. That decision saw manager Stephen Robinson make a change at half-time with Scott Tanser replacing the Welshman at the break. Hearts made a triple substitution at the break with Magnusson, Kabore and Alexandros Kyziridis replaced by Beni Baningime, Claudio Braga and Elton Kabangu.
Phillips almost doubled the Buddies lead early after the restart. The Irishman forced a brilliant save from Clark who had to move quickly to push away the midfielders volley from 20 yards.
Hearts started to see more of the ball but didn't do much to threaten George in the Saints net. Kabangu headed wide, while Lawrence Shankland's header was easy for the Saints goalkeeper. A decent run from Braga ended in the Hearts man shooting easily into the arms of George.
The visitors would find themselves level with 12 minutes of normal time remaining. Oisin McEntree got to the back post to meet a corner from Harry Milne and headed into the net.
The manager made a triple change on 83 minutes with the introduction of Tunmise Sobowale, Roland Idowu and Evan Mooney in place of Richardson, Baccus and Mandron.
The game headed to extra-time and in truth neither side looked like winning it outright at that stage. Penalties it was and Saints, knocked out on penalties by Hearts in the Scottish Cup last season, ensured they would be on the right end of the result with five perfect penalties ensuring progression and a quarter-final tie away to the winner of Kilmarnock and Dundee United.
Malik Dijksteel scored the winning penalty on his home debut (Image: Craig Brown)
Full-Time: St Mirren 1-1 Hearts (St Mirren win 5-4 on penalties)
St Mirren: George, Fraser, Gogic, Freckleton, Richardson (Sobowale 83), Phillips (Dijksteel 106), Baccus (Idowu 83), O'Hara (c), John (Tanser 46), Ayunga (King 91), Mandron (Mooney 83)
Subs Not Used: Mullen, Taylor, Calvin
Hearts: Clark, Kent, Halkett (Forrest 74), Findlay, Milne (Kingsley 106), Kabore (Braga 46), Magnusson (Baningime 46), McEntee (Steinwender 97), Devlin, Kyziridis (Kabangu 46), Shankland
Subs Not Used: Stone, Spittal, Wilson
Referee: Steven McLean
Assistant Referee: Graeme Stewart
Assistant Referee: Gordon Crawford
Fourth Official: Iain Snedden
Attendance: 4,738
