THERE is always a moment during a penalty shoot-out when you can sense the player taking the spot-kick is going to fluff his lines.

Whether it is a lack of confidence exuding from their body language as they make the walk from the halfway line or their run up to the ball, you just get a felling they are going to be the fall guy.

When Cody Cooke was asked to place the ball on the spot for a second time, you couldn’t help but fear he was the one that would come up short.

Following a goalless draw with Lowland League outfit East Kilbride that left St Mirren hopes of progressing to the knock-out rounds of the Betfred Cup hanging by a thread, the bonus point would be decided by penalties.

Kilby’s Ryan Sinnamon and St Mirren’s Danny Mullen, who had the chance to clinch the shoot-out, missed in the regulation penalties, so it moved into sudden death and when Oan Djorkaeff and Dean Cairns both scored it was Cooke’s turn to step up.

Glasgow Times:

READ MORE: Chikhura goalkeeper warns Aberdeen of intense atmosphere

The second half substitute duly dispatched his penalty past goalkeeper Alan Martin, who immediately held his arms out in protest to referee Colin Steven. The problem for Cooke was he took his penalty before the referee blew his whistle.

And when he was ordered to retake it, you knew what was coming next. Cooke’s second attempt was easily saved by Martin and then Ruari Paton stepped up to win it for East Kilbride.

Cooke, however, was bemused he had to retake it as he was sure he’d heard the referee’s whistle.

Cooke said: “I thought I heard the whistle. The second time I took the penalty I put the ball down and he blew his whistle and then I took a step back.

“Where he went wrong on the first one, I don’t know because I took a step back and waited for about five seconds and thought he’d already blown the whistle.

“I’m not sure, I think it was a bit of confusion on his part and he forgot to blow it or whatever. It was strange, I’ve never seen that before and it seemed an age when I was waiting to take it. It was a strange one.

“He said he hadn’t blown it but I thought I heard it. With the second penalty he blew it when I put the ball down but the first time I don’t know what happened.”

Glasgow Times:

READ MORE: Rangers boss Steven Gerrard happy to have striking selection dilemma over Alfredo Morelos and Jermain Defoe

Saints are on the verge of crashing out of the competition, having picked up just four points from their opening three group games. They dominated this cup tie but couldn’t find a way past Martin, who pulled off some impressive saves.

St Mirren are struggling for form and manager Jim Goodwin had admitted he quickly need to strengthen his side with new recruits. So far only Djorkaeff and Tony Andreu has been added to the squad that preserved their Premiership status in the play-off and Cooke admits the players are keen to see some new additions.

He said: “If you talk to any player, in any team you want competition for places, you want strength in depth in the squad.

“So, of course, it’d be great to get some deals over the line for everyone, the manager and players included, because as the manager has said in the changing room it’s not to bring in players to replace us but to help strengthen and there is depth in the squad.

“It would be a help for everyone and I’m sure they are working hard behind the scenes and they’ll get some over the line soon.”

Cooke, however, is confident St Mirren’s form will pick up once the league gets underway, saying: “It’s obviously frustrating. I suppose we can see where we’re going wrong and we can rectify that for the league campaign.”