St Mirren 0 Dundee 0 (3-0 on pens) - Trevor Carson’s penalty shoot-out heroics send Buddies into Scottish Cup last-16 draw

Goalkeeper Trevor Carson inspired St Mirren to a Scottish Cup fourth round victory as they scraped past Championship side Dundee after a penalty shoot-out at the SMiSA Stadium.

Neither side could break the deadlock throughout a subdued 120 minutes, with the Dark Blues marginally creating the better of the chances. The tie was settled on spot-kicks with Northern Ireland international Carson emerging as the hero, saving all three of the visitors penalties from Zak Rudden, Kwame Thomas and Lyall Cameron.

Eamonn Brophy also missed the opener for Saints but Mark O’Hara, Alex Greive and Greg Kiltie converted successfully to book the Buddies spot in Sunday’s last-16 draw.

Saints manager Stephen Robinson hailed Carson for his heroics between the sticks after making several important saves in the shoot-out and in regulation time, while also praising the influence of goalkeeping coach Jamie Langfield for masterminding their triumph.

He said: “Ultimately, we’re through to the next round. We weren’t at our best, that goes without saying. As a team we made poor decisions on the ball but Trevor has made three excellent penalty saves and deserves a lot of credit.

“Jamie Langfield (goalkeeping coach) deserved credit as well because he called Trevor in before the shoot-out and told him where every single Dundee player was going to go to and he got them all right.

“I think the other positives were the four boys that came on. Alex Greive gave us more energy and pushed us higher up the pitch, Ethan Erhahon gave us a bit more ownership of the game in midfield and Kilts (Greg Kiltie) gave us a bit more quality on the ball.

“We know we’re better than that. We didn’t play particularly well on a lively pitch but we’ve managed to grind it out and we’re in the next round of the cup. That’s all that matters.”

Asked if he had any preference as to which team he would like to face in the last-16, Robinson replied: “A home tie ideally because that’s us now eleven games unbeaten here. It’s the sign of a good team when you’re not playing well and are through to the next round, so we must be doing something right.”

Dundee, playing their first match since January 6 after having three home games postponed, suffered two early setbacks in Paisley after losing Tyler French to a suspected broken leg and full-back Cammy Kerr to a back injury during the first-half. The former was stretched off in severe discomfort and getting oxygen inside the opening six minutes following a nasty collision with Alex Gogic.

Both sides lacked creativity in the final third in what was an evently-contested cup tie, with visiting keeper Adam Legzdins making two routine saves to keep out Scott Tanser’s free-kick and then Mark O’Hara’s 25-yard curling effort - perhaps reflecting the cagey nature of knockout football.

The Tayside outfit had failed to seriously trouble the Saints back-line until the 34th minute when Jordan McGhee’s perfectly weighted pass over the top found Max Anderson but the youngster’s goalbound shot was expertly blocked by the sliding Tanser.

The best chance of a turgid opening 45 minutes fell the way of Dundee right on the stroke of half-time when Jordan Marshall’s cross picked out the impressive Lyall Cameron and the early replacement forced Carson into a brilliant finger-tip save.

Half-time substitute Alex Greive provided some fresh attacking impetus for the home side. The striker found the back of the net with one of his first touches, but saw his close-range finish ruled out after being caught in an offside position.

However, Dundee were posing a greater threat every time they broke forward and a clever move down the right-hand side saw the ball eventually reach Cameron inside the penalty area. The midfielder turned inside before firing a low shot which required another smart stop from Carson.

Gogic then had a driven effort from the edge of the box parried away by Legzdins before Kwame Thomson, who had joined Dundee on loan from EFL League Two side Sutton United on Friday, came close to opening his account after connecting with Cameron’s delivery, but Carson was again equal to his shot.

Those proved to be the only real chances of note in extra-time as the tie went the full distance before Carson stepped up to be Saints saviour and extend their unbeaten home run to 11 games. The outcome was harsh on their second tier opponents, who put so much into the contest.

Dees boss Gary Bowyer was proud of his players brave performance and admitted the better team had been knocked out of the competition. He stated: “I thought we were brilliant, we were really good. We took a Premiership team on and had a right good go at them. It shouldn’t really have got to extra-time with the chances we missed.

“We had the big loss of Tyler French, he’s in hospital now and it’s not looking good for him. We’ve not had any confirmation on that (potential broken leg) but that’s what we’re fearing.

“Then we lost Cammy Kerr in the first half and had to adjust. It was a magnificent effort from us, we took the game to them and I thought we did really well. We had the better chances and not had much go for us today.

“It would be wrong to single anybody out. To a man, we defended by throwing bodies in front and blocks. If there’s one bit we have to be better at, it’s that top end of the pitch because the number of chances we’ve created this season we should have won more games than we have done.”

St Mirren (3-5-2): Carson, Tanser (Flynn; 98), O’Hara, Ayunga (Greive; 45), Main (Brophy; 81), Gogic, Baccus (Kiltie; 57), Dunne, Fraser, Strain (Shaughnessy; 105), Gallagher (Erhahon; 45)

Unused: Urminsky (GK), Taylor, Offord

Dundee (4-2-3-1): Legzdins, Kerr (Cameron; 41), Marshall, French (Anderson; 11), Sweeney, McGhee (Robertson; 94), Jakubiak (Thomas; 65), Ashcroft, Mulligan, McCowan (Rudden; 90), McMullan (Sheridan; 65)

Unused: Sharp (GK)

Referee: Colin Steven

Attendance: 4,254 (882 away)

GlasgowWorld Man of the Match: Trevor Carson (St Mirren)