Billy Mehmet's penalty saw St Mirren exact revenge on Celtic in the Scottish Cup quarter-final tie.
25th time lucky for St Mirren as they knock Champions out of Cup
Billy Mehmet's penalty saw St Mirren exact revenge on Celtic in the Scottish Cup quarter-final tie at New St Mirren Park.
The two sides met in the SPL last Saturday and the Hoops battered the Buddies 7-0 and it was looking ominous for the home side when Celtic named a strong side which included hat trick hero Shunsuke Nakamura.
And the danger-man set up striker Scott McDonald to score in the first half, but it was ruled offside after finding the net in the opening period.
The Australia international beat Saints keeper Chris Smith in the 14th minute with a header from Nakamura's cross but looked around to see the flag up.
Possession changed hands with startling regularity as St Mirren's tactics of harrying the Parkhead side added to the usual freneticism.
Celtic became stronger as the game continued but struggled to penetrate, typified when midfielder Aiden McGeady's right-footed shot from 25 yards saw Smith save with more ease than he had displayed in dealing with a couple of previous back passes.
Nakamura curled in a couple of dangerous free-kicks from the left which came to nothing but by the time the interval arrived the momentum was clearly with the Hoops.
Second half
And Celtic continued where they left off, until the game sparked into life in the 55th minute when St Mirren were awarded a penalty.
Billy Mehmet sent Boruc the wrong way to score his 11th goal of the season after Hoops skipper McManus mistimed his last-ditch tackle on Craig Dargo.
Celtic were appealing for their own penalty on 71 minutes when Will Haining looked to have leaned into Vennegoor of Hesselink, but the Dutch forward was penalised for a handball and was booked for his troubles.
St Mirren has the chance to put the tie to bed when 10 minutes to go after Dargo put Andy Doorman through on goal - Doorman got away with handling the ball to go one-on-one with Boruc, but could not find the finish.
Celtic piled on the pressure, bringing on strikers Georgios Samaras and Ryan Conroy but it was Vennegoor of Hesselink who had the chance to equalise when he headed Nakamura's corner straight at Smith.
But it was to be St Mirren's day, who have beaten Celtic for the first time in 25 attempts, earning their first Cup win over the Glasgow giants in 47 years as well as a place in the semi-finals.
