Sunday at the SMiSA had the feel of a real capital C capital T Cup Tie.
Partick Thistle were decent – second in the Championship, a sold-out away end, genuine belief they could come to Paisley and make the most of their big day.
They made us work. Ben Stanway's sharp volley after 61 minutes gave us a nervier last half hour than we needed.
But Dan Nlundulu's first-half penalty, Jake Young's finish right before the break, and a backline that stood firm when the pressure came got us through relatively comfortably in the end.
Eleven cup games this season. Never been behind once. At some point, you have to stop comparing the St Mirren of the league (boo) to the St Mirren of the cup (yass) and start accepting it as kind of just what we do. I've stopped trying to figure us out.
St Mirren are in the Scottish Cup semi-finals. We face Celtic – the same Celtic we beat 3-1 in December to lift the League Cup.
This squad, which has beaten Hearts, Kilmarnock, Motherwell and Celtic already in cup football this season, will show up. It has a habit of doing that.
Whatever Celtic bring – and they'll bring plenty, because nobody wants to lose to us twice in a national cup final in the same season – this group has shown repeatedly that the bigger the occasion, the more settled they look.
Third Hampden appearance of the season for the Paisley Good Guys. There are supporters of clubs with far greater resources who haven't seen their side at a national stadium that many times this decade, and we're getting "the usual?"-d in the pubs of Mount Florida.
A strange, brilliant, maddening club to support. Good fun, isn't it?
Andrew Christie can be found at Misery Hunters
