Steven Thompson remembers St Mirren's League Cup win a decade on
- Published
St Mirren's 2013 League Cup win was their first major trophy in 26 years
Steven Thompson collected four trophies with Rangers, triumphed in world football's richest game to reach the Premier League with Burnley, lived the dream in a Scotland shirt, and even presented Sportscene.
But nothing can top the afternoon, exactly 10 years ago, that he lifted the Scottish League Cup with St Mirren.
The memories are indelibly etched in his mind. The pre-match anxiety over letting down his home town, the utter elation of scoring in the final win over Hearts, the days of celebrations on the packed streets of Paisley.
St Mirren had risen to the occasion in a humdinger of a Hampden semi-final. They were up against a Celtic side who had beaten Barcelona three months previously and would go on to complete the domestic double.
Thompson scored what proved to be the winner as St Mirren progressed 3-2 to set up a showdown with Hearts.
"No one gave us a hope against Celtic," the former striker says. "But we put in a performance as good as I've ever seen from a St Mirren team. Wee John McGinn was in there bashing Victor Wanyama about. It all came together."
Then came the final, which Thompson - 34 at the time - knew was his last chance of silverware. The pressure gnawed away at him on the morning of the showpiece.
That anxiety only heightened in a sluggish start as Danny Lennon's team seemed gripped by stage-fright.
"It was a mixture of nerves and responsibility," Thompson says. "It's like a burden where you don't want to let anybody down. You know it means so much to the supporters.
"We got an absolute chasing in the first half hour. Hearts had scored one and I reckon if they'd got a second we'd have lost.
"But thankfully they missed a couple of big opportunities and we scored just before and after half-time through Esmael Goncalves and myself."
There was still a late scare to come as Hearts pulled it back to 3-2 with five minutes to go, but St Mirren clung on for their first major trophy in more than a quarter of a century.
"I was fortunate over my career to have a lot of unbelievable moments," adds Thompson. "But the St Mirren one, because I'd been brought up as a fan - the 1987 Scottish Cup final was the first game I ever went to - it held a lot of emotional ties for me.
"So I'd put it right up there as the one that stands out."