Michael McKenna saw hero headlines flashing before him with a late chance to knock St Johnstone out of the Premier Sports Cup.
Sunday’s late miss haunted him for days after a penalty shoot-out exit to holders Saints.
But McKenna had the ideal response on Saturday.
A double in Arbroath’s 3-1 win over Partick Thistle moved the Angus side up to fourth place in the Championship.
And McKenna revealed a midweek pep talk with Arbroath assistant boss Ian Campbell put him back on track.
“I was beating myself up after last week,” said McKenna.
“I missed a good chance at the death against St Johnstone and missed.
“We played really well against St Johnstone and put so much into the game that we deserved to win.
“Ian keeps talking about his goalscoring record from when he played.
“The penalties took a little bit of light off that miss.
It’s 1-1 as @ArbroathFC star @Mikey_211991 wheels away to celebrate a stunning 20 yard free-kick. pic.twitter.com/QshwknWHDL
— Ewan Smith (@ewansmithpr) August 21, 2021
“That was good for me personally but when I look back at the highlights it’s even more gutting.
“We could have been in the headlines for beating St Johnstone but we found ourselves out of the cup.
“We used that as motivation to inspire the win over Partick.
“Looking at the results we’ve had, we could actually be sitting top of the league.
“We were 2-0 up at Ayr United, missed a penalty and threw away the lead. We missed a right few good chances against Inverness.
“If we were sitting on nine points then no-one would have batted an eyelid.”
Arbroath fell behind to a Colin Hamilton own goal.
Michael McKenna nets either side of break
Derek Gaston parried a 15-yard effort from former Dunfermline star Kyle Turner and the ball rebounded into the net off Hamilton.
But after McKenna cracked a 44th minute free-kick in off the post just there was only going to be one winner.
The hosts were outstanding in the second period and blitzed their visitors with two goals in three minutes.
Firstly Joel Nouble danced past four defenders before setting McKenna up for a header.
Then Low pounced on a poor clearance from Partick keeper Harry Stone to net from 15 yards.
“When I was standing over the ball I could almost hear Dick Campbell,” added McKenna.
“‘Why is he hitting that? What is he doing kicking that?’
“I could have caught it a little bit better but it went in.
“We belong in this league. I can’t remember the last time we got pushed over or comfortably beaten.”
