St Mirren v Ayr Utd: Danny Lennon urges Buddies to wise up

Published on 29/08/2012 00:00

ST Mirren manager Danny Lennon has urged his players to prove they have learned from past mistakes as they prepare to face Ayr United tonight.

The Buddies were dumped out of the competition by Ayr at the quarter-final stage last year, when Chris Smith claimed the only goal of the game late on. Lennon insists his side are now stronger for the experience and urged them to avoid a repeat when the teams meet again in the second round this time.

He said: “We are still hurting from the disappointment of losing that game. We must make sure history doesn’t repeat itself and show we have learned from the experience. They hit us with a sucker punch but it helped us develop as a team and we had one of our best top-flight finishes in 20 years.

“You learn more from the defeats than the victories. We are more effective than we were last year. We are two leagues above them and that can give them extra fight, but we have to make sure it’s all about us and what we can do.”

Saints’ last senior cup success was back in 1987 when they lifted the Scottish Cup and Lennon is desperate to deliver some long-awaited silverware. He added: “We are always looking to improve and we want to improve on our cup runs from last year. It comes down to a handful of one-off games and it would mean the world to everyone at the club to win a trophy. We have been waiting for over 25 years.”

Ayr have injury doubts over Martyn Campbell, Ryan McStay and John Robertson, but Jonathan Tiffoney is free of a ban and new signing Marc Twaddle could start.