Philippe Clement's theory that expectant or new fathers might not perform to their optimum due to dealing with that lifestyle change doesn’t chime with Jonah Ayunga.
The St Mirren striker is expecting his first child with partner, Liz, in February and marked that development by celebrating his first goal in 13 months with the ball up the shirt celebration while his team-mates got in on the act by sucking their thumbs for the photo.
Ayunga comes across as a laidback figure at the best of times so if he is at all stressed or distracted by what lies ahead – as Clement fears for his Rangers players – then there was little sign of it.
Instead the Englishman, who has just returned from a lengthy lay-off following a serious knee injury, believes the prospect of becoming a father inspires him even more to perform well on the pitch.
“No, for me it’s motivation,” he said in response to whether he agrees with Clement. “It was another thing that pushed me on during my comeback. It’s just another person to do it for. I have family and everyone in my mind when I go out there and it’s just another one.
“The baby is due in mid-February. It’ll be my first, a little boy so I’m buzzing for that. I promised Liz I’d do that celebration! But I ran off, forgot the ball, everything. Luckily Alex Gogic got it for me. I did about three celebrations, I didn’t know what I was doing.
“It was just a relief to score. I’d had two or three shots in the first half which I thought could have gone in so when I finally got that one it was so nice.
“You want to get that first one out of the way as soon as possible like when you go to a new club, it was a similar feeling to that.
“I’d say the injury itself was really hard but now is one of the hardest things when you’re back.
“Nobody is waiting for you anymore. You’re back and you have to hit the same standards. It was good to get the goal and it’s about trying to carry it on now.”
Ayunga performed well alongside Stav Nahmani in the St Mirren attack, the pair creating a number of chances between them. And the senior man says he’s happy to support the young Israeli through a difficult time in his life given events back home.
“All the boys are around him,” added Ayunga. “You forget how young he is. He speaks good English but when you’ve got the gaffer screaming at him in his accent it’s hard!
“He’s stuck at it, he’s unreal in training and a great finisher. Obviously he did really well against Ross County so hopefully he can play some more games. We were speaking to each other throughout the game. When I challenged he got the ball and when he challenged I got the ball. We were playing well together.”
The first goal was a scrappy one, County defender Ryan Leak putting the ball into his own net from a St Mirren corner.
County defender James Brown admitted he was surprised that, when VAR intervened to award the goal, they didn’t look more thoroughly at the build-up.
“I was on the ground and I thought there was going to be a VAR check because there was a big block,” he said. “I feel really disappointed about that. I asked the referee to check it and he didn’t see a block, which is baffling really if you look at the replay. Their player is not even looking at the ball.
“In my eyes it was a poor decision. It was a key moment. When St Mirren go ahead they are a hard side to beat. That was probably the decider. I felt the VAR was probably a bit quick. I know it could take two or three minutes but they should have looked at it deeper. It’s a bit disappointing.”
