St Mirren sensationally roared to Premier Sports Cup victory by stunning beleaguered holders Celtic in a frenetic Hampden final.
Goals from Marcus Fraser and a second-half Jonah Ayunga double did the damage against Wilfried Nancy’s shell-shocked side as the Paisley club claimed the Scottish League Cup for only the second time in their history.
Having become the first manager of the Parkhead club to lose his first two games in charge – against Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts and Europa League heavweights Roma – Nancy was already staring at a must-win game on his maiden trip to Mount Florida.
His troubled side could not have got off to a worse start as former Celtic player Marcus Fraser towered above a dire defence to head home inside the opening two minutes.
St Mirren’s motto has been “faith over fear” as they eyed a first success in this competition since their only win in 2013 against Hearts, when they beat Celtic in the semi-final, and few encapsulated that more than energetic striker Dan Nlundulu.
The powerful forward rag-dolled a ropey Celtic backline and had two gilt-edged opportunities to double his side’s lead in their dominant opening 15 minutes, but he dilly-dallied the first and stroked wide with his second.
There was a concern the Saints would rue such golden chances against the champions.
The influential Kelechi Iheanacho was denied by a superb Shamal George save, but the St Mirren shot stopper could not do anything to deny Reo Hatate’s back-post volley on the end of Kieran Tierney’s terrific cross.
While the equaliser was deserved, Robinson got his men in at half-time level and regrouped to ready them for a special second-half performance.
Ayunga, who has experienced an at-times arduous spell at St Mirren, connected with a classy and creative Alex Gogic assist to restore the Paisley side’s lead.
In the most recent of times, that would have sparked something with Celtic, but it seemed nothing could shake them into life in a sluggish second half as they stared at back-to-back cup final defeats this year.
Celtic could not rouse themselves and allowed for St Mirren to rubber stamp their dreamland day with a fantastic third on the counter as Ayunga crashed in the simplest of finishes to spark bedlam among those in black and white.
