JIM Goodwin last night refused to blame referee Willie Collum for St Mirren’s painful Scottish Cup semi-final defeat to St Johnstone at Hampden.

The Paisley club’s players appealed for a penalty in the first-half yesterday when Jamie McCart appeared to foul Kristian Dennis inside his own area and then handle a shot.

But match official Collum allowed play to continue and Callum Davidson’s team ended up triumphing 2-1 at the end of the 90 minutes. 

Goodwin, though, felt that a failure to capitalise on their chances was the difference between the two teams.

Substitute Collin Quaner hooked a shot wide from a few yards out after being supplied by Ilkay Durmus in the second-half.

“Kristian is adamant that the shot came off the boy’s hand,” said Goodwin. “Whether the hand was down by his side or whether it was out, I don’t know. It was on target and it looked as though it might have been going in the bottom corner.”

When told there had also been a foul on Dennis before the handball, Goodwin said: “I haven’t had a chance to watch it back. I will be extremely disappointed if that is the case. But we’ve got to take the other opportunities. That’s what it comes down to.

“I thought St Johnstone were slightly better, with the little bits in particular; second balls, picking up the pieces. But I can’t fault the players’ efforts. I don’t think anybody could say we were poor.”

Asked about the Quaner miss, he said: “Collin will be disappointed with his one. He's just not got enough on it.

"We were hoping for more from him because that's why we brought the big guy on, we know the quality he has.

"You look at the level he's played at, the English Premier League and the Bundesliga. You're hoping he repays something for the amount of time he's been missing.

"He's tried so hard to get himself fit, it's been a real shame for him. That would have been brilliant if he had come up with a winner today to get us into a cup final. The header he had as well, I think he'd want that one back as well.”