St Mirren's 'unplayable' hero as star for Celtic clash forced out of team after overnight development

Ayunga scored twice in the second half as St Mirren won the League Cup for the first time since 2013 with a 3-1 win over Celtic. Captain Marcus Fraser had opened the scoring right at the beginning of the match before Reo Hatate levelled midway through the first period.

Ayunga caused Celtic’s backline issues all afternoon and got his reward with two strikes to etch himself into St Mirren folklore. He was also given a new strike partner on the day of the game in the shape of Dan Nlundulu after Mikael Mandron - who was slated to start - reported sick from vomiting during the night.

“I've taken Jonah lots of places that I've gone, and he's got so much talent, he's got absolutely everything,” said Robinson. “When he plays the guy, he's unplayable, and I thought he terrorised the three centre halves today with his pace, his strength, his quality. I'm delighted for him because he's a lovely lovely boy. He was top class.

“We got a phone call at half seven this morning from Mika to say he'd been throwing up all night. He'd been really really struggling, and I think that takes a real man, a real professional to do that. It's easy not to tell the truth, it's easy to try and battle through, but he still played a huge part in this today, and his honesty probably describes the whole group. They're just honest boys, with real real talent that work for each other.”

Robinson was delighted to see his players grasp the opportunity in front of them against an out-of-sorts Celtic team. The team celebrated wildly on the pitch afterwards and were given a reception at Paisley town hall on Sunday evening.

“In terms of the performance and the players, we said before the game that opportunities don't come around all the time,” continued Robinson. “When you're younger you think everything stays forever and you'll always be in football, so grab this opportunity, and they certainly did that.

‘They’re the ones that deserve all the credit’

“To everybody involved in it in terms of coaching staff, playing staff, admin staff, we've got the smallest in the country, and for the level of work they put in I'm delighted for them more than myself. I'll sit back and relax and enjoy it at some stage, but for the people that put all the hard work in and the players that have to go in the arena, they're the ones that deserve all the credit.

“We are a team that plays with probably not a lot of fear anyway. We go after teams, we don't overly sit back no matter what the opposition are. But it's easy saying that. We used the banner, we stole it off the North Bank, and they have the big banners, ‘faith over fear’.

“What I said to them was, if you play with fear, that means you're not organised, that means you don't have belief in your ability. This group are ultra organised and we said have faith, you are stronger, you are quicker, you are good, good players that can cause real real problems.

“I said give them the best version of yourself, the result will take care of itself, and when you walk off the pitch, have you give the best version of yourself, and to a man, to a member of staff, I thought they did that in abundance today.”

Robinson was asked if this is his highest moment in football. “I will probably look back and think it is,” he replied. “Yeah, it's hard to put into words.

“I was looking for my family, my two boys are over from Belfast, my wife was here - she doesn't go to lots of games because she doesn't like the stick that you get. My sister's here, her husband, so it's brilliant for them.

“They're the ones that read all the stuff, they hear all the criticism. You forget as a manager I'm somebody's son, somebody's dad, somebody's husband, somebody's brother, and they take it a lot more personally than I do. That's the industry I'm in - I don't take a lot of heed of it to be honest.”