St Mirren progressed to the quarter-finals of the William Hill Scottish Cup with a dramatic penalty shoot-out win over Motherwell at Fir Park.
An incredible first-half performance saw the Buddies deservedly 4-1 ahead at the interval and all but through to the last eight.
Unbelievably, Motherwell scored three goals in 17 second-half minutes to take the game to extra-time and ultimately penalties.
Jamie McGrath, Kyle McAllister and Jon Obika all netted from 12 yards while Motherwell's Liam Donnelly had his saved by Vaclav Hladky with Tony Watt and Jermaine Hylton also missing to see Saints set up a last eight clash with either Aberdeen or Kilmarnock who face each other tomorrow night.
Jim Goodwin's side started on the front foot and took the lead on 14 minutes when Saints number nine Obika grabbed his ninth goal of the season. Cammy MacPherson fed the ball out to the left to Ilkay Durmus who whipped in a stunning ball to meet Obika with the forward getting in between the Motherwell central defence to sweep home from close range.
Saints could have added a second 10 minutes later through Jamie McGrath. Alex Jakubiak did brilliantly to hold off two Motherwell players deep in the Well half. He slid a beautiful ball through to the Irishman who beat the offside trap but smashed at Well goalkeeper Mark Gillespie from a tight angle.
And just three minutes afterwards Motherwell found themselves level. An Allan Campbell shot from the edge of the St Mirren box was deflected by for a corner. Liam Polworth took but the Saints defence could only clear as far as the midfielder who was allowing to cut into the box before slamming a low drive beyond Vaclav Hladky to level.
The game would turn on its head again when the Buddies would score two goals in two minutes just after the half-hour mark. Obika scored his and Saints' second of the game on 31 minutes as the striker once again drifted in ahead of the static Well defence to side-foot home MacPherson's free-kick.
Saints barely had time to celebrate their second before stretching the lead further. Obika did so well on the counter to carry the ball from his own half to the edge of the Motherwell box. His attempt was blocked but fell kindly for stand-in skipper Sam Foley who had bust a gut to match Obika's run. Foley's shot was blocked by the feet of Gillespie but cannoned off Peter Hartley and into the net to make it 3-1.
Only a super stop from Gillespie denied St Mirren a fourth on 37 minutes when the Steelman goalkeeper got done to brilliant push away McGrath's effort from inside the box. But the fourth would come just before half-time as Foley got himself on the scoresheet. A low Durmus cross was only cleared as far as the midfielder who cut into the box and drilled home from 16 yards out to put St Mirren in dreamland heading into the break.
Motherwell started the second-half the stronger as they looked for a route back into the game and they found a goal 12 minutes into the second-half to make it 4-2 as Tony Watt scored his first for the Steelmen. The striker got the better of Conor McCarthy and Akin Famewo to knock beyond Hladky from close range.
The goal seemed to briefly awake St Mirren after a slow start to the second-half with Obika having a shot from the edge of the box deflected wide, before MacPherson's fizzing long-range effort was pushed away by Gillespie.
Motherwell were coming closer to a third and hit the post with 20 minutes remaining while Hladky had to make a good save to deny Polworth on the follow-up.
The warning signs were there for Saints and Motherwell made their pressure pay on 73 minutes when they added a third. Rolando Aarons' low cross from the right evaded everyone and somehow found its way into the back of the Buddies net.
And then, 60 seconds later, the unthinkable happened as Motherwell drew level. Campbell's attempted cross from the right took a deflection off Foley and sailed over the head of Hladky to make it 4-4.
The Steelmen continued to have the majority of the pressure as the game ticked towards extra-time with MacIver backheeling wide while a shot was blocked inside the Saints box with just over five minutes left.
In truth neither side did enough in extra-time to win the match with Durmus curling a free-kick into the arms of Gillespie while Hladky had to be alert to turn behind a Hylton shot at his near post. The Buddies could have snatched it in the final moments when substitute Tony Andreu beat the on-rushing Gillespie to the ball. It fell to Kyle McAllister who lobbed over the stranded goalkeeper only for Liam Donnelly to head off the line.
After 120 minutes it would take penalties to separate the two. McGrath netted the first for Saints, with Donnelly seeing his penalty saved by Hladky.
Saints failed to make it 2-0 in the shoot-out when Andreu smashed his penalty well over, but Tony Watt missed his penalty as the Buddies maintained their advantage.
MacPherson, who took the captain's armband following Foley's substitution, also missed from 12 yards as he was denied by Gillespie, while Motherwell levelled as Rolando Aarons scored.
McAllister and Polworth scored their penalties meaning it was 2-2 heading into the fifth penalty. Obika coolly stroked his spot-kick home meaning Hylton had to keep Motherwell in the match. The winger put his penalty over the bar allowing a relieved away support to celebrate.
Saints will now meet the winners of Aberdeen/Kilmarnock at the Simple Digital Arena on Saturday 29th February.
Full-Time: Motherwell 4-4 St Mirren (St Mirren win 3-2 on penalties)
St Mirren: Hladky, Hodson, McCarthy, Famewo, Waters, McGrath, MacPherson, Foley (McAllister 103), Durmus (Andreu 97), Jakubiak (Morias 63), Obika
Subs Not Used: Urminsky, Mullen, Chabbi
Motherwell: Gillespie, Grimshaw (Hylton 62), Hartley (Tait 46), Mugabi (O'Hara 45), Carroll, Campbell, Donnelly, MacIver (Manzinga 102), Polworth, Aarons, Watt
Subs Not Used: Carson, Seedorf, Manzinga, Ilic
Referee: Gavin Duncan
Assistant Referee: David McGeachie
Assistant Referee: David Doig
Fourth Official: Kevin Glancy
Attendance: 4,534 (918 St Mirren fans)
Gallery pictures by Allan Picken © - Allan Picken Photography
