St Mirren skipper Sam Foley admits his side were fortunate to get a point against Hamilton on Wednesday night.

The midfielder was once again stand-in captain as Ilkay Durmus’ free-kick saved the Buddies from defeat after David Templeton’s opener.

Outplayed by Accies, St Mirren also survided a late penalty scare when Mickel Miller rolled the ball wide from 12 yards.

Foley said: “In the grand scheme of things a point was a positive. We were disappointed because we wanted to win the game but we got lucky with the penalty miss.

"We managed to turn it around after the first half performance. We just said the normal football cliches at half-time.

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"Everything that was wrong with our performance we knew how to rectify and it was down to us. We needed that break because something had to change.

"We looked a different team in the second-half and showed the fight we lacked in the first.There was a bit of frustration as we were on the back of a good performance, but we’ve been playing quite well of late so it’s natural to be frustrated when it’s not going your way.

"It’s about knuckling down and having the focus, which we got back."

The Buddies face Motherwell in the fifth round of the Scottish Cup at the Simple Digital Arena tomorrow. 

Stephen Robinson’s men have beaten St Mirren twice already this season but Foley is hoping to dip into the club’s cup history to cause an upset.

And the 32-year-old former Northampton Town man reckons it could just take something as simple as a deflection to give them the confidence boost they need.

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He continued: “There’s no reason we can’t go far in this competition, maybe get to the semi-finals at Hampden and who knows what can happen from there.

"I suppose there’s less pressure, but this team is built on work ethic and that won’t change. The gaffer will have a game plan.

"We could do with a few going in off backsides or whatever. Maybe we should get the lads together, see what religions they all are, and start praying to each and everyone’s gods. Let’s see what happens.”

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