ST MIRREN’S Stevie Mallan is happy to be put on the spot should his team win a penalty at Ibrox this afternoon. Saints take on Rangers in the Petrofac Training Cup semi-final, still smarting from the opening game of the season at the same venue when Steven Thompson blazed his effort from 12 yards miles over the bar. A goal at that point would have made the score 2-2 but instead Rangers went on to win the game 3-1.

Ian Murray’s side have not been awarded a penalty since but should the referee point to the spot at lunchtime today then red-hot Mallan would have no hesitation in putting himself forward.

He said: “I’ve been practising taking penalties in training. In fact, myself and Scott Agnew have been having a competition for the last few months because we both want to have that job.

“That goes back to Thommo missing from the spot at Ibrox in the opening league game. We were 2-1 down at the time but we were having a good spell in the game. Unfortunately, Rangers went on to win 3-1 but it wasn’t just because of the penalty. We had a few other chances as well.

“That was the last penalty we’ve been awarded this season and we still don’t know who’ll be taking the next one – it’ll probably whoever gets to the ball first!”

Mallan’s dad, also Stevie, played in the final of this competition for Queen of the South in 1997, narrowly losing to Falkirk. Now the St Mirren midfielder wants to experience a final for himself.

He added: “I was only about 18 months old at the time so I can’t remember whether or not I was even taken to the game. Unfortunately, Queens lost 1-0 but we still have a plaque in the house with the results of the previous rounds and the goals he scored in them on it.

“It would be great to match what he did by winning on Saturday – although I’d then want to go one better and win the cup.”

Mallan was a part of the St Mirren under-17 squad when Danny Lennon’s first team beat first Celtic and then Hearts to win the 2013 League Cup. He remembers it well and hopes to experience something similar at Ibrox today. “I wasn’t at Hampden for the final win over Hearts but I remember my dad and I going mad while watching it on the telly. Later on I did go and join in with the celebrations.

“However, I was at the semi-final when we beat Celtic and that was amazing. To beat them on your way to a final was fantastic. Partly that was because we were such underdogs that day, just as we are this weekend. Maybe you can make a comparison between playing Celtic two years ago and taking on Rangers now.

“They’re the favourites and everyone expects them to go on and win it but we’ll be looking to upset them. If we can keep them quiet until half-time then their fans might start to turn on them, a bit. If we can get the first goal and hold on to that lead until the interval then that would put them under a bit of pressure. They would have to come at us and that might give us a bit of leeway to get the ball down and maybe hit them on the break.

“We’ve played well in both of our games against them so far this season - even though we lost twice they were close-run things. They brought the best out of us.”