It’s Scottish Cup action for Saints as Jim Goodwin's side host Broxburn Athletic at the Simple Digital Arena tomorrow.
FORM
St Mirren - WLDDWL
Broxburn – WDWLWL
This is St Mirren’s first match of 2020 following the Ladbrokes Premiership winter break.
The Buddies closed off 2019 with a 1-0 win over Kilmarnock at the Simple Digital Arena. Ilkay Durmus’ 17th minute strike was enough to separate the two sides and give Saints a well-deserved three points.
The Buddies have lost only one of their last five matches – a narrow 2-1 loss at home to league leaders Celtic on Boxing Day.
Broxburn were due to face Linlithgow Rose last Saturday in the East of Scotland Football League Premier Division but a waterlogged park saw the match postponed.
The West Lothian side currently sit in sixth place in the EOSFL Premier Division having picked up 25 points from 14 matches.
PREVIOUS
Tomorrow’s match will be the first ever meeting of the two sides.
St Mirren reached the fifth round of the William Hill Scottish Cup last season – defeating Alloa 3-2 at the Simple Digital Arena in January 2019 before losing 2-1 to Dundee United at the same venue less than a month later.
Competing in the Scottish Cup for the first time, Broxburn have already had to negotiate five ties just to reach this point in the competition having entered at the Preliminary Round 1 stage.
A 2-0 win over Tynecastle saw them through to face junior side Girvan Preliminary Round 2. After beating the Ayrshire side 1-0, Broxburn entered the Scottish Cup proper taking on East Stirlingshire in the first round.
The East of Scotland League side edged out the Lowland League outfit 3-2 to set up a second-round tie with Cowdenbeath.
A late goal from their captain Nicky Locke saw them secure a replay with the League Two side after a 1-1 draw at Central Park. Broxburn ran out emphatic winners in the replay defeating the Blue Brazil 3-0.
A 1-0 win away to Inverurie Loco Works saw Broxburn reach the fourth-round to set up tomorrow’s match.
TEAM NEWS
Akin Famewo, Conor McCarthy and Jamie McGrath are all set to make their St Mirren debuts after signing for Saints last week.
Kirk Broadfoot has trained this week but the manager believes tomorrow comes too soon for the experienced defender.
Gary MacKenzie and Kyle McAllister remain out.
MANAGER'S THOUGHTS
"We’ve approached the match in the same way we would approach every other game.
“We’ve got to be professional. We’ve seen Broxburn twice live and our video analyst has been working extremely hard over the Christmas period to dig up as much footage as he could.
“We put a presentation to the players to give them an idea of what to expect. It’s never a walk in the park but if we do the basics well and we go about it in the right manner then we should get through the tie but it’s never as easy as that.
“Broxburn have done brilliant. They’ll be coming with absolutely nothing to lose and hoping to go and give a good account of themselves."
