Having played his part in a win that could well be seen a momentous in the fight for promotion on Saturday afternoon, St Mirren’s Cammy Smith has set his sights on putting a spoke in Aberdeen’s wheel.
Smith netted the opening goal that enabled Jack Ross’ side to open up an eight-point lead in the Championship with a 2-0 win over Dumbarton on Saturday and having established a chasm that will be viewed by many observers as definitive, Smith would like to go one further as the Scottish Cup looms into view this week.
Smith, who came through the youth system at Pittodrie, was part of an Aberdeen side who were put out of the League Cup in 2012 by Saints. Indeed, the striker missed a penalty in the shoot-out.
Friends and family will be in attendance at Pittodrie on Saturday adorned in red scarves but Smith would relish a re-run of St Mirren’s League Cup exploits against the Dons. While this season’s be all and end all for Saints is on returning to where they believes they belong, Derek McInnes’s side will fancy that this season’s Scottish Cup is a viable ambition. Smith would draw some pleasure on thwarting that one, despite the allegiances of his close circle.
“I don’t think I’ve got anything to prove against Aberdeen,” said Smith. “I had a good relationship with Derek McInnes and Tony Docherty. We got on well enough so I’m looking forward to going back. My friends and family are all Aberdeen fans - none of this Old Firm nonsense!
“It should be a good week. It’ll be good for my friends and family. To be fair to them, they come down to watch me and it’s a long way for them to be travelling every week. It’s good that it’s on their doorstop for a change. A few years ago when I was at Abereen St Mirren put us out of the League Cup, so it would be good if we could do it again.
“I was a young boy that night and Craig Samson saved my penalty. I hope it can be the same result this time though and we can knock Aberdeen out. If we get promoted it is a good test for us in terms of who we’d be facing next year.
“But we have to manage to get there first."
In that respect, it was difficult not to view the win over Dumbarton as significant.
The gap in itself will lend an element of composure to St Mirren but the confidence and conviction with which they are playing would appear to be give credence to the theory that potentially they could have sealed their passage to the top flight by the time March arrives.
Smith’s opening goal at the weekend was followed by Stephen McGinn finding the net for the first time this season but even on a boggy, sodden pitch that saw a drab goalless opening 45 minute period, there was always a feeling that the Paisley side had too much for Stevie Aitken’s side.
The Dumbarton manager concurred with the majority when he said afterwards that he fully expects St Mirren to canter their way out of the league this season, but there was an inevitable wariness on Smith’s part to anticipate plain sailing from here on in.
“We could have had a couple more goals but we’d have snapped your hand off for a 2-0 beforehand,” said the striker.
“We got the job done on Saturday. We’ve got the momentum with us but we won’t get carried away. We know we’ve got a chance - but that’s all it is right now.
“Hopefully we can keep putting in the performances and getting the results we want. We got the goals in the second half but I thought we played well in the first half as well. We maybe didn’t have that cutting edge in the final third.
“The goal after half-time knocked the stuffing out of them and then Stephen came up with a very good finish for the second and we saw the game out.”
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