St Mirren striker John Sutton hopes that lifting the Irn-Bru Cup this afternoon will not only prove to be a highlight of an otherwise miserable season on the whole, but spur his side on the complete the great escape from relegation to League One.
The recent revival down Paisley way under Jack Ross has raised expectations among their followers that they could yet avoid the drop after being anchored to the foot of the Championship table for the majority of the season.
In contrast to their abysmal league results in the earlier part of the season, their form in this competition has been excellent, with an away victory at Hibs the highlight as they stormed their way to today's final at Fir Park.
Now Sutton thinks that a victory over Dundee United could have a major effect on how the rest of the season pans out, and hopefully avenge some of his own recent cup final heartache.
“Getting a bit of silverware would be great for us at this stage, we could take that confidence into the rest of the season,” Sutton said.
“I have won it once before here and we won the league that season, so it would be great to win it again. Back then you think you will be in other finals all the time but it doesn’t work out like that, although I’ve been fortunate to get to two since. I didn’t manage to win either of them so it would great to get another medal.
“Do I go into this one thinking it might be my last? Not really, but you never know what the future holds.
“I think I was 21 when we won it the last time and at that stage everything is in front of you.
“I have been really lucky in my career with who I’ve played for and what I’ve been able to do. I lost a final for Motherwell against Celtic and then a bigger disappointment was the one for Hearts against St Mirren.
“When you get to a cup final you want to win it. I know people think it isn’t as big as the Scottish Cup or the League Cup, which it isn’t, but look at the teams who have competed in it the last few years.
“Rangers won it last season, you have had Hearts and Hibs playing in it as well. Rangers only won it once in all the years they were in it, so it would be a good achievement it we can lift the trophy.”
Sutton, of course, is no stranger to Fir Park, having spent many happy years there as a Motherwell player as well as enjoying an unforgettable moment at the stadium in the black and white of St Mirren.
Back in 2007, he scored the winner as the Saints sealed a memorable 3-2 comeback win that kept his side in the top division, so he is understandably looking forward to going back to the venue today.
“Tam Cowan texted me the other night saying ‘welcome back to the theatre of dreams’,” he said.
“Obviously Fir Park is a place I know well and I think the pitch is a lot better now than it has been for a long time. It should be a great atmosphere, it’s a tight ground and we’ve sold our allocation.
“It’s also good for the fans, they have been brilliant with us this season and it would be nice to give them something back for the support they’ve shown us.”
In something of a quirk, the bottom side in the division go into today’s final as the form team rather than fourth-placed Dundee United, whose recent slump looks to have torpedoed their hopes of bouncing back to the Premiership automatically at the first attempt.
But even though St Mirren defeated United less than a fortnight ago, Sutton is expecting to be pushed all the way if they want to get their hands on the silverware today.
“It was a tight game against United the last time and they will be looking at it thinking they can turn it around,” he said.
“But we are playing with confidence, the results were not as good as we would have liked, but we have gone into every one thinking we could take something out of it.
“Even the Celtic game we thought we could get something from so it will just be a case of going out and being positive this weekend.
“I’d imagine United are looking at this weekend as a breath of fresh air from the league. They dismantled Queen of the South in the semi-final so the potential is there for them to give anyone a hiding.
“I’m sure they will find their form again – I just hope it’s not for a few weeks yet.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here