BY KYLE GUNN

It’s no wonder there was a delay before the St Mirren players celebrated their shootout victory over Motherwell which booked them a spot in the Scottish Cup quarter-finals on Tuesday.

They were probably still shell-shocked from blowing a 4-1 half-time lead to require a lottery from 12 yards in the first place. 

However, Jon Obika, who netted twice in in the opening 45 minutes to hit double figures for the campaign, explained that the Buddies squad thought there was one more to go and thanked the the travelling support for their efforts. 

He said: “I think we weren’t sure. There were a few misses and we knew we were winning 3-2. Junior [Morias] was next to take the pen and the ref didn’t blow his whistle so we were thinking we might have to score to win. It was delayed celebrations, the ref just stood still before blowing the whistle."

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On reaching double figures for the season, the target man commented: “It’s a milestone you want to hit as a striker. I’ve definitely be looking for some more. For fans, 4-1 up, you’re thinking job done. For the fact they kept singing even in extra-time. You could hear them with the penalties, even though some of the boys missed they kept going for us.” 

The Englishman now wants to take the momentum of the eventual Scottish Cup into the crucial battle at the wrong end of the Premiership table against Hearts tonight. 

Saints have an opportunity to open up a six-point gap between themselves and the rock bottom Jambos.

And, despite being the lowest goal scorers in the league, Obika has always backed himself to find the back of the net, and he is also enjoying striking up a partnership with January recruit on loan Watford forward Alex Jakubiak. 

He continued: “Hearts is a massive game so all the boys are ready and wired in for the game.

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"We know what Hearts are about. We’ve played them before and we know their pressing. We can take confidence from the Motherwell game. They’re a strong side and we matched them in both games. 

“I always back myself and strikers are always going to miss chances and have bad performances. Scoring goals is nice but it’s how consistent I can be now. I like getting into the box, good timing. I’m happy it came out on the day. I work hard in training to get into those positions.

“You can see Alex has a lot of strength and he’s very intelligent. I feel we link up well. When I played with Junior we linked up well against Hamilton so I think that two up top is helping. From the word go it’s to win. We’re not trying to keep them in or stay off them. We know what we can do when we’re at our best."

St Mirren v Hearts is live on BT Sport tonight at 7.45pm.

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