Stephen Robinson insists he’s desperate to get back to Hampden and experience a cup final again just as much as the Saints fans.
And the Buddies boss believes a strong Scottish Cup run this season would also help provide some welcome funds and raise the profile of the Paisley club once again.
St Mirren have enjoyed some memorable days out at the national stadium, most recently beating Hearts to seal League Cup success in 2013.
The Scottish Cup trophy has eluded them since 1987, although they did reach the semi-finals in 2021 when they lost out to eventual winners St Johnstone.
Having seen the positive impact both in the stands and on the balance sheet during his spell at Motherwell, when he led the Steelmen to League and Scottish Cup finals, Robinson is determined to steer his Buddies back to Hampden this season – starting with today’s home tie against Championship title hopefuls Dundee.
Robinson told Renfrewshire Live Sport: “I’d love to get back to Hampden as much as the Saints fans. It was a great experience with Motherwell, one of my best days in my football career, apart from the fact we got beaten.
“The whole experience and build up to it was brilliant. But you have to take care of the games before that. It’s a tough game against Dundee.
“They’re a Premiership team in all but position really. There’s only five or six differences in place.
“They’re a big club, a big challenge for us but we’re at home and we’re confident we can get through to the next round. We need to play at the top of our game again.
“If we’re all realistic, the chances of us winning the Premiership are very, very low. This competition is a big chance of success, getting your name on a cup. It raises the profile of the football club as well.
“At Motherwell it happened, from our cup runs a lot of money was raised and we sold a lot of players from it because you sell players when you’re successful.
“A lot more eyes are on you. There’s so many different aspects to wanting to do well in the cup.
“We’ll be going all out to win and I think our last three performances have been brilliant. I’m sure things will click. We’re creating chances and playing well, working very hard.”
The Buddies head into today’s clash with Dundee looking to pick up a second win in 11 games after a tricky spell of fixtures that’s included five draws in their last 10 outings.
Robinson is adamant his players are still brimming with positivity after a difficult double header with in-form Hearts and a heavy defeat to league leaders Celtic.
He said: “Seven days ago I did an interview and I was unbeaten in six. Whatever way it’s spun, we’ve only lost two games in the last eight.
“But you can spin it as one win in the last ten. It depends what way you look at the statistics. Sometimes the narrative gets changed, but there’s no narrative change within our squad.
“There’s been a lot of mitigating circumstances in that run, including two brilliant draws away from home, one with 10 men.
“We’re very positive around the place. We’ve had some very good results, we’ve played Hearts twice and drawn with them and were unlucky to not take something at Tynecastle. You saw what they just did to Aberdeen.
“We went to Celtic Park and got beat by four but had a lot of chances and had a real go at them, which not a lot of teams do. We’ve beaten Aberdeen as well since we came back, a team with a huge budget, so there’s a lot of positivity still here.
“We do want to turn the draws into wins. We’re joint-sixth, which for a club of our size is an incredible season so far. I’m not sure what people expect.
“If we can turn those draws into wins we could be sitting third or fourth. We’re not too far away, we’re doing a lot of good things and are putting in good performances.”
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