Mehmet: St Mirren's tower of strength

Published on Saturday 20 March 2010 20:11

BILLY MEHMET has a Cypriot father from the Turkish region of the island, and an English mother. He was born and raised in London but played at under-21 level for the Republic of Ireland, the nation of his grandmother. Only in Scotland, though, has the St Mirren striker found a footballing home from home. And, seven years on from coming north for a successful trial at Dunfermline, no competition has proved as welcoming to the skyscraper striker as this year's Co-operative Insurance Cup.

The Paisley club have Mehmet to thank for their presence in today's final. A goal from the product of the West Ham youth academy made the difference in the semi-final against Hearts last month. And five from the 26-year-old in a 6-3 win over East Stirling in August set Gus MacPherson's side on adventure that has landed the club a second major final in 23 years, and only a third in 48 years. He also scored in the second round win over Ayr United. "I hope this will continue to be a good tournament for me in the final and I'll try to get another goal, but obviously I know Rangers are a right good team and I will need to put a shift in to win the cup," says the man who holds top scorer status in the competition.

A right good shift is guaranteed from Mehmet. Game-winning qualities are not. In that sense, he might be considered an archetypal St Mirren player of current times. Yet there is excellence within his game, as much as effort. Almost half of his 11-goal total for the season may have come in one game nearly eight months ago, but no one would accuse MacPherson of talking up Mehmet's worth in describing him as "a handful to play against; he's proved that and I don't think it matters whether it is Rangers, Celtic or the lower league teams in the cup". Commending his technical prowess, ability to be target man or, more usefully, hold the ball up through having it played to feet, the St Mirren manager is in no doubt "he has attributes a lot of teams and managers would like in their team". "I don't think there's an opposition manager who hasn't commented on Billy's work ethic, and what he adds to our team," he says.

MacPherson was alerted to the fact Mehmet was "a very good player" from the moment the Englishman set foot in Scotland in April 2003. At that point, he was in his final weeks at Dunfermline ahead of moving to St Mirren as a player/coach. "When you train and play with someone you can quickly identify their strengths and weaknesses," he says. The East End Park club had invited Mehmet up after he had surprisingly been released after 11 years at Upton Park, where he was a contemporary of such as Glen Johnson, the only player he has really kept in contact with from those days.

Mehmet, who, as perhaps the shaved head and nightclub bouncer build should give away, grew up going to watch Millwall and "the likes of Tony Cascarino and Jimmy Carter". But on the afternoon they had their "unbelievable" FA Cup final against Manchester United at Wembley, he was otherwise engaged, on the bench at Hampden as Dunfermline lost out to Celtic in the final of the 2004 Scottish Cup. "What happened with Millwall is a little bit of a comparison with St Mirren," he says. "It's massive for the area and us, we go there as massive underdogs and hope we can cause an upset."

Mehmet pitched up in Paisley in the summer of 2005, but found his appearances limited, first by a bout of mumps that laid him low for a couple of months, then the mumping that followed MacPherson preferring to partner John Sutton and Stuart Kean. Now, the St Mirren frontline is Mehmet plus one. In recent times, the view has been two big, bustling brutes are better than one. That has meant Michael Higdon linking up with Mehmet in an attack that hasn't exactly proved prolific, with the Co-operative Insurance semi-final marking St Mirren's only win in their past 14 games. There is a feeling among some close to the St Mirren camp that MacPherson could throw a Rangers defence in which 18-year-old Danny Wilson will deputise for the injured Madjid Bougherra by selecting the diminutive, mobile Craig Dargo to be the little to his team-mate's large.

"Whoever" is Mehmet's predictable response to which of the pair he works more effectively with. "You have got to try and play your best with both really," he says. "If I play with Craig Dargo, I know that he is going to be running the channels. If I play with Michael Higdon, I know he is a strong hold-up player and will bring people into the game. I wouldn't favour one or the other."

It shouldn't really matter. Yes, as an example of the fact anything can happen we've all heard about when St Mirren were last in a final, when they were up against European finalists Dundee United and yet still ended up 1987 Scottish Cup winners. But the one thing that doesn't tend to happen for St Mirren against Rangers is that they win. They run them close, as they have in five meetings already this season, but never close enough. Yet, the way his team have been playing against the Ibrox side gives Mehmet hope.

"We could have beaten them in the Scottish Cup and probably played better than them, and had the better chances," he says. "It is all down to taking those on the day and I hope we can and restrict their front two, (Kris] Boyd and (Kenny] Miller. If we can get a goal then, who knows?"

What we know is that the St Mirren players won't be in the money even if they achieve something remarkable. It has been the bitter tale of what should have been a sweet cup final week for the Paisley side that the squad feel their lucrative efforts in reaching Hampden have been under-valued. There is nothing they can do about the fact that the win bonus of 3,500 is the most their board have said they can afford. "That's happened, but I'm not really going to comment on it," says Mehmet. "None of us will be thinking about that when it comes to the final. We just want to go out there and hope to win. All the other stuff will take care of itself."

Among the other stuff is the fact that, out of contract in the summer, the final could do Mehmet's employment prospects no harm. MacPherson says the club had an enquiry about the player, but "nothing materialised". A Turkish speaker, Mehmet has been linked with a move to that country. "There's been other speculation that I'm sure Billy's generated," his manager jokes. Mehmet plays it straight when it comes to his future. "The gaffer has said he wants to keep me but I have just got to wait and see what they say. I am happy to stay in Scotland, that's not a problem at all. But if something happens down south you would have to consider whatever options you have." Probably St Mirren's only hope of pulling off a shock result today is exercising the Mehmet option to the full.