THANK GOG FOR TREV
Alex hails keeper for shoot-out heroics after last-gasp miss
ALEX GOGIC thanked Trevor Carson for saving his skin as St Mirren squeezed past Dundee on penalties.
The keeper produced three huge stops in the shoot-out to send Saints through to the Scottish Cup last 16 despite one of their poorest home performances of the season.
Stephen Robinson’s men barely created a chance of note but when they finally did, early in extra-time, Gogic somehow failed to beat Adam Legzdins from close range.
The Cyprus international feared the worst at that point and was a relieved man when Carson bailed him out by denying Zak Rudden, Lyall Cameron and Kwame Thomas from the spot.
The Northern Irishman had already made two big saves from Cameron during the match and Gogic admitted Saints owed a lot to their keeper.
He said: “We got there in the end and that’s what matters I suppose. But it wasn’t pretty.
“We had a couple of chances but going through was all down to Trevor – he saved us with the penalty saves.
“It was an incredible performance from him in the shoot-out.
“To save three out of three penalties is something you don’t get very often.
“It was amazing. He doesn’t even face penalties in training, he lets the younger boys face them!
“It matters so much when you know you can trust your keeper. You know he is going to pull you out of a hole and not just in this game – he does it every game. He always saves us. That’s what he is there for. He is so good.”
Gogic demonstrated his versatility by switching from midfield to defence and back again as the tie wore on.
But he also showed why he’s not a striker as he passed up a golden chance to break the deadlock.
He added: “I just saw the ball near the line and I tried to smash it in off the goalie’s hand. But it didn’t want to go in and I was like, ‘Oh no’.
“I thought I was offside at first but everything just went really slowly after that. I just thought ‘put it in’ but it didn’t go in for me.”
Gogic was also involved in a horrible early clash with Tyler French, which saw the midfielder stretchered off with a suspected broken leg after he had fouled the St Mirren player but ended up injuring himself.
French posted a pic on Instagram with his leg in a cast and Gogic hoped it wasn’t too serious.
The former Hibs man added: “It was weird because I just took the ball and he clamped my shin.
“I heard something snap and hoped it was his shin pad but I guess it might be bad news.
“I went for a ball and so he did but he was a bit late and hit my shin.
“I wish him a quick recovery and hope everything goes well. You never want to see injuries like that.”
Dens keeper Legzdins was gutted to go out but believes the display should give the Championship club heart for their promotion push.
He said: “St Mirren will know they have been in a real game. When it goes to penalties, it’s a bit of a lottery.
“Their keeper has made three great saves. We are massively disappointed to go out but the overwhelming feeling is that we’ve gone toe to toe with an established Premiership team. And that gives us massive confidence going back to the league.”