Copyright dailyrecord
Double hero Mikael Mandron admitted his semi-final heroics were a career high. The big striker came back to haunt his former club with the first and final goals in their 4-1 Premier Sports Cup win over Motherwell. Mandron scored twice, along with Dan Nlundulu and Jamaican Richard King - who dedicated it to the victims of the hurricane that has devastated his homeland. The 31-year-old is now looking forward to his first cup final and reckons his weekend achievements will only be bettered if St Mirren were to come back to Hampden next month and lift the cup. The St Mirren stated: “That is up there with the best games of my career, for sure. “But winning the final would surpass it. “I have never played in a final as a professional. “When you go into a final, you are in it to win it. “Whoever we play next, we are going there to win it, for sure. “I don’t care who we play. It doesn’t matter at all.” Mandron ended his recent goalscoring drought in style. He joked he only got half the goal haul he had dreamt of. "Sometimes you have games where everything just falls for you,” the St Mirren striker claimed. "Especially the second goal, there was someone in front of me and it helps me just to bend it around him. "I'm so happy. Since I left Motherwell, I don't think I've ever beaten them, so today was a perfect day to do that. “That felt amazing. “This is why you play football - for nights like these. “To win the game 4-1 and score two goals, it felt amazing. “I always dream about scoring goals. I go into every game thinking I will get four! “Obviously that doesn’t happen but I always visualise myself doing well. “It feels great when it happens. You can see yourself doing well but it doesn’t happen every week. “I am so happy.” There was a slight delay for his second goal as VAR intervened. It was given and Mandron was surprised it was even reviewed after he easily swept aside Emmanuel Longelo, as he outgunned fellow St Mirren striker Dan Nlundulu, who also netted. Mandron insisted: “I didn’t understand the wait for the second goal because it wasn’t a foul and I have had a history of VAR decisions go against me. “I hoped the goal wouldn’t be taken away from me and I was so happy when he pointed to the centre circle. “We all push each other and Dan pushes me every week. “He’ll say, ‘I need a goal out of you’ and I say the same. “At half time we had both scored and we were happy - but then we said ‘Come on, we can get more’." Motherwell were favourites going into this game and that definitely motivated the Paisley men. Mandron confirmed: “We were fired up, 100 per cent. Every team has their own style and it’s whatever works for you. “We were happy for them to have the ball. “They didn’t get near our box or threaten us that much. “They didn’t cause us any problems and we were good on the counter. “We showed way more fight and we showed that we wanted it more than them. “We showed we are way closer as a team and that showed in the result. “The boys are all tight, we love each other and we push each other. “When we are doing well, we support each other and that’s the same when someone isn’t doing well. We are never on their backs.” Mandron gives the credit for this cup final win to manager Stephen Robinson. He had taken them into the top six for the last three seasons and into Europe and now a cup final is the next step. His forward insisted: “The manager is top. You can see how organised we are and how everyone on the pitch knows what they are doing. “That comes from the manager and the work he does behind the scenes and on the pitch. “We all love playing for him and he’s been so successful with three top-six finishes in a row. “Only Celtic and Rangers have done that too and look at the resources we have. “The manager doesn’t get the credit he deserves, for whatever reason. “I don’t know why that’s the case because he’s shown it every season. “Hopefully now the manager and players can start to get that recognition.”
