Mark O’Hara admits his stunner against St Johnstone was bittersweet after Nicky Clark’s late leveller left a sour taste in the Buddies’ mouths.
The midfielder’s sensational first-time volley was worthy of popping champagne corks in Paisley and looked set to spark huge celebrations at full-time.
But St Mirren were left drowning their sorrows after clinical striker Clark popped up with a wonderful effort of his own with the last kick of the night to bag his side a point.
Stand-in skipper O’Hara felt his side had done enough on Wednesday evening to bag all three points before seeing two drip through their fingers at the death, leaving the 26-year-old and his teammates “numb”.
When asked about his strike, O’Hara told Renfrewshire Live Sport: “When I saw it hit the back of the net, I thought that was it and we’d won the game.
“It was heartbreaking after seeing what happened at the end. After a goal like that, you want to celebrate but obviously with the way it ended it’s not ideal.
“It felt like an eternity that added time! People afterwards said that it did go over what it should have been.
“We were working hard and they didn’t have many chances in the second half. I did think we were going to see it out.
“It’s a quality finish [by Clark], but seeing it hit the back of the net was heartbreaking.
“Everyone’s feeling numb. If we’d held on for five or ten more seconds we’d have won it, which is hard to take.”
While not picking up the win they wanted, the Buddies did ensure their unbeaten run at the SMiSA Stadium stretched to seven games on the back of the 2-2 draw.
That streak will be sternly put to the test tomorrow afternoon when the Paisley side face a Rangers team determined to lift the gloom in Govan by picking up their second win in the space of four days.
O’Hara scored twice against the Ibrox club in the 2016/17 season while turning out for Dundee, following that up with a double in a 2-1 win the following campaign.
And after bagging his fourth goal of the campaign for the Buddies against St Johnstone, the in-form midfielder is hoping he can keep up his goalscoring form to help send St Mirren into the World Cup break on a serious high.
O’Hara said: “We wanted three points against St Johnstone and we had a good opportunity to get those vital points.
“A point is better than nothing though and now we’ve got a big one on Saturday to try and get us climbing up the table.
“Saturday is massive for us. Our record here is very good.
“We want to be in that top six come the break. It’s been a positive start to the season but we want to consolidate our position now, which makes it a massive game.
“Every team that comes here knows it’s a hard place to come. We fully believe we can get a result on Saturday.
“I’ve scored quite a few goals against Rangers in the past so hopefully that can continue.”
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