Striker Eamonn Brophy insists it’s time for St Mirren to stop “underachieving” and prove their win over Dundee United wasn’t a flash in the pan.
The Buddies travel to Somerset Park this afternoon hoping to back up their overdue 2-1 victory at Tannadice on Tuesday night by sealing a safe passage past Ayr United and into the fifth round of the Scottish Cup.
Brophy was delighted to get back on the scoresheet against the Terrors after a combination of the winter break and a hamstring injury kept him on the sidelines for more than six weeks.
Now he’s determined to help Saints put an underwhelming first half of the season behind them by sparking another Scottish Cup run, having reached the semi-final stage last year.
Brophy told Renfrewshire Live Sport: “I had a wee bit of a niggle with my hamstring so was out for a wee bit longer than everyone else.
“It was good to get back out there and get the goal, but especially the win which was what we really needed.
“Even in the second half you could feel we were getting deeper just trying to hang onto that win. It was so important and hopefully that can kick-start us for the second half of the season.
“It’s a strong, strong squad we’ve got but we’ve certainly underachieved so far. We need to start doing our talking on the pitch as we’ve not done that so far this season.
“We’ve underachieved, but there’s still a long way to go so hopefully we can turn it around and make it a positive season.
“If you can put two or three wins together, especially in this league, then it can take you right up the table.
“It’s the same the other way. If you don’t pick up the wins you slide right down and it’s such a tight, tight league this season.
“You want to do as well as you can in the cup competitions.
“We did well last season, getting to two semi-finals, but unfortunately we couldn’t make it to the finals.
“It was difficult, especially as it happened twice, but hopefully we can put another run together and make it this time.”
While St Mirren head into this afternoon’s clash as firm favourites, Brophy is adamant he and his teammates won’t be taking the challenge of Ayr United lightly – especially as the former Killie hitman has already suffered a Scottish Cup sting before when he was a young striker coming through at Hamilton Accies.
Brophy said: “We’ll need to be on our game as it’ll be tough against Ayr, no doubt about it.
“I imagine it’ll be a good atmosphere down there. It’s a tight stadium, I haven’t played there since my youth days.
“I can remember it being a traditional Scottish ground and I’m looking forward to going back.
“I remember when I was at Hamilton we went down to Annan, who were in League Two at the time, and they ended up beating us 5-2.
“These cup competitions are very difficult. Just because it’s a lower-league opposition doesn’t mean it’s going to be an easy
game.
“We need to be right on our game to go through to the next round, because I’m sure Ayr will certainly be up for it playing against a team in a higher league.”
