Stephen Robinson hailed a monumental effort from everyone at St Mirren after they defeated Ross County 3-2 in dramatic fashion to secure a top-six place in the William Hill Premiership for a third successive season.
Roland Idowu came off the bench to net an 86th-minute winner for the Buddies, who started the day knowing nothing other than a win would be good enough.
They still had to rely on the result in the contest between Motherwell and Hearts going their way too, and the SMISA Stadium would erupt when the news of a goalless draw at Fir Park filtered through to Paisley.
It has been a tough season for Robinson and Saints, who have had to deal with numerous off-field issues over the course of the campaign.
However, they have rallied to show their resilience and togetherness to yet again defy the odds.
The delighted St Mirren boss said: “To do it three years in a row is an incredible achievement for this football club.
“This is my biggest achievement. People will say, ‘you got to cup finals and got to Europe’… the problems we faced they don’t teach you on the pro licence.
“Nothing has gone our way this season, nothing has fallen for us – we’ve had to fight and scrap for everything.
“I didn’t know the score (at Fir Park) and I asked specifically that nobody on the bench knew the score. I don’t know if they were lying to me.
“When we scored the third goal, I did ask the question and it was panic stations.”
The Northern Irish boss admits it is becoming the St Mirren way to do things the hard way.
They reacted to going a goal behind by firing back through Caolan Boyd-Munce and Jonah Ayunga to move into the driving seat.
Jordan White looped home a header to level matters in the 63rd minute, before Idowu’s priceless winner.
“If you are going to do it, it’s a great way to do it,” Robinson said with a smile.
“If someone had told me beforehand that’s how we’d get in the top six, then great – but it was heart-attack stuff at stages!
“The boys stayed composed and kept believing, and the subs did really well.”
Dejected County boss Don Cowie felt his team’s display in Paisley merited more.
The Staggies remain in danger at the bottom of the Premiership table.
They are currently a point above the relegation play-off place and six in front of St Johnstone who occupy bottom spot.
“I thought we performed really well,” Cowie said.
“St Mirren away is a tough game, everyone knows the difficulties and challenges of that, and what was at stake for them. We had to stand up to that, and I thought we did that.
“Two of the goals we concede are from fantastic strikes from outside the box.
“At 2-2 I thought we were the team that looked most likely to go on and win the match.”
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