St Mirren U18s take on Dundee at The SMiSA Stadium on Monday 10th March in the Scottish Youth Cup Semi-Final.
The winners will go on to face Kilmarnock U18s in the Final after the Rugby Park side defeated Livingston 6-0 in the other last four tie.
The Young Buddies have had to overcome some tricky ties along the way, including two matches that have already been played at The SMiSA Stadium.
We take a look back on the U18s journey to the last four...
Round Two - St Mirren 5-1 Alloa Athletic
Following a bye in Round One, St Mirren were drawn against Alloa Athletic in September where the Young Buddies came out on top 5-1.
First-half strikes from Struan Thompson, Evan Mooney, and Thomas Falconer were followed by goals after the interval from Mooney again and Billy Hutchinson.
On what was a fairly comfortable evening at The SMiSA Stadium, there were two standout pieces of play. The first being Thompson’s opener, where he drove from deep into space before striking low from 20 yards beyond the reach of Crawford in the Alloa net.
The second was another driving run, this time Callum Penman who charged past his full-back and played a brilliant ball into Falconer who was on hand to tap home.
The Young Saints squad celebrate after win over Alloa Athletic (Image: Allan Picken)
Round Three - St Mirren 8-0 Caledonian Braves
Round Three saw another home draw for the Young Buddies, this time Caledonian Braves were the visitors to The SMiSA Stadium.
Stephen McGinn’s side were in charge from the first minute until the 90th with goals from Thompson, Mooney, & Innes Clark seeing Saints race into a 3-0 lead within 13 minutes. A goal from Theo McCormick after 35 minutes saw the tie all done bar the shouting before the break.
A trio of goals from substitutes Lewis Marshall and Luke Douglas sandwiched a captain's strike from Carrick McEvoy, ensuring an 8-0 win, in a thoroughly professional performance.
Round Four - Heart of Midlothian 0-3 St Mirren
The last 16 threw up a potentially tricky draw, a trip to Edinburgh to face Hearts at Ainslie Park.
A bright start wasn’t rewarded with a goal. Multiple dangerous attacks included a strong save following a Marshall strike and a penalty claim for handball being turned away by the referee. There was to be a final chance before the half was out, though. Marshall pressured the Hearts defence into slack play as he capitalised by driving forward and squaring the ball to Mooney, who took a touch and drilled low, across the keeper and into the side netting to give the young Saints the lead at half time.
The pressure on the Hearts defence continued as Hutchinson and Lyle Hunter went close to doubling the lead soon after the break.
That elusive second goal would come through the same man who got the first. Falconer stuck a great ball into the box, and some great play by Mooney saw him buy himself space then fire home.
A place in the quarter final was secured just five minutes later as Mooney - initially attempting to get an assist by playing teammate Matthew Turner through on goal - was on hand to tap home the rebound following Turner’s effort that was saved. It was the Mooney’s second hat-trick of the season, the other coming in a 3-0 away win to Kilmarnock in the CAS Elite Under 18s League.
Evan Mooney scored a hat-trick in the U18s 3-0 win away to Hearts (Image: Lewis Smith)
Quarter-Final - Queen’s Park 1-1 St Mirren (St Mirren win 3-2 on penalties)
A trip to Lochinch was what the draw threw up at the last eight stage, as it was Queen’s Park who would play host to the Buddies.
After having an effort saved just minutes earlier, it was that man again in the Youth Cup, Mooney, who would score the opener. He was brought down in the box and stepped up to coolly dispatch the penalty after 34 minutes.
Leo Clark drew the hosts level just three minutes later, though. His shot was rifled into the roof of Grant Tamosevicius’ net, only the second goal that the keeper has conceded all competition.
Into the second-half, two defence splitting crosses by Mooney looked as though they’d be put away, but some good defending denied McCormick and it took a piece of outrageous goalkeeping to stop Thompson from getting a late winner. McEvoy saw an injury-time effort crash off the bar which was a sure sign that the game was heading for penalties.
With both keepers saving the first penalties and both of the second spot kicks being successful, it was clearly going to be a nervy shootout. Tamosevicius would be the hero again as he saved the Spiders third spot-kick, before captain Owen Carey put the Buddies ahead.
Both teams scored their fourth kicks which then put all the pressure on the Spiders' fifth taker. His penalty smashed the bar as the Saints ran off in celebration, their name into the hat for the Semi-Final, where they would draw Dundee at home.
St Mirren U18s celebrate penalty shoot-out win over Queen's Park (Image: Allan Picken)
The Opposition
Currently sitting in sixth position in CAS Performance Under 18s League table, the second tier of U18s youth football, Dundee come into the game in relatively good form.
Comfortable 4-0 wins over Stirling Albion and Penicuik in Round One and Two were enough to see them into Round Three where Sonny Paterson, son of Dee’s Assistant Manager Scott Paterson, was on the scoresheet in a high scoring 5-3 win away to Fraserburgh.
A couple of 2-0 home wins against Ayr United and Banks O’Dee in Round Four and Five put the Dark Blues into the Semi-Final.
