The first chance for Saints came after some good work from Martin Cameron to set up Ricky Gillies, who was clean through on the goalie. Ah well, good work Martin, as Ricky not surprisngly missed the target.
Just after that though Saints scored. Baltacha crossed into the box, there was confusing and Cameron managed to poke it home for his first ever St. Mirren goal. As most people wondered if it was the first of many from him, just 15 minutes later came his second. Before that he had another chance which he squandered and put in the side netting.
Saints had a few corners in a row and as per usual the ones Gillies took were shocking. When Ian Ross took one it found the head of Cameron no problem for 2-0.
Shortly after his hat trick was complete when he flicked the ball over a defender before firing a superb volley into the net from the edge of the box. And he wasn't finished there, as when a similar chance to the one he missed on Saturday came along he didn't even take a touch, slotting it under the goalie for his and Saints fourth. It had been the first Saints hat trick since Barry Lavety against Clydebank in 2000, but I couldn't tell you when the last Saints player scored 4 goals in a competitive match. After another few minutes of play, which saw Lappin and Cameron fighting over who was taking a shot, and also at some point seeing Cameron slide in to try and poke it in and the goalie saved, the referee blew his whistle for the interval on The Martin Cameron Show.
Before the second half started a few East Stirlingshire substitutions were made, and Saints also made one, replacing Brian McGinty (who'd had sod all chances due to Cameron nicking them all, and also having a slight injury) with Mark Yardley.
A few minutes into the half and it was 5, when Cameron was adgudged to have been fouled, although it looked pretty soft. Graham Guy thankfully managed to stop Gillies taking the free kick, as I was fearing for my safety in the back of the PDE stand, and showed he doesn't need defelctions to score them as he superbly put the ball in the bottom corner. It was his first ever goal for Saints in a proper game, but it was Saints last goal for almost half an hour! Just after Cameron was one on one with the goalie but had the ball snatched from him/didn't score as he tried setting up Yardley. At the same time he received a knock so The Martin Cameron Show was brought to a premature end as Chris Kerr came on for him. Ian Ross moved up front.
Saints created several good chances but kept being caught offside/missing the target, and it wasn't always Gillies that did that! Eventually a 6th was nocthed when Yards set up Ross who scored with his RIGHT foot! The man who uses his right foot to stand on had somehow scored with it!
7 wasn't too far away but Gillies still tried to make a mess of it. He was sent through and took a touch to try and go around the goalie. He succeded in taking the goalie out the game but there was still a few defenders. He managed to go past one before finding the target for the first time in ages and scoring. Shortly after Yards showed he doesn't like scoring in high scorers as he hit the bar.
That was the end of the scoring and, despite the poor weather in the second half Saints will be delighted with the performance. Unfortunately we now play Clyde away in the next round. Ricky Gillies once again showed he struggles to shoot, Ian Ross once again showed he likes scoring in games when we win by 5 or more, and Mark Yardley once again showed he doesn't like scoring in high scorers. It was Saints biggest win since an 8-0 victory over Clydebank a few years ago. Hopefully we can keeep the form up for Saturday and break the Brokenville jinx :-)
Lineups:
St Mirren; Roy, Baltacha, Dow, McGowan, Robb, Ross, Gillies, Guy, McGinty, Cameron, Lappin. Subs: Rudden, Kerr, MacKenzie, Yardley, Robertson
East Stirlingshire; Finlay, Dunbar, Muaghen, McGhee, McLaren, Leishman, McAuley, Boyle, Ure, Carmichael, Morrison. Subs: Walker, Struthers, Reid, McLaughlin, Todd