Jamal George guessed correctly and used all of his 6ft 3in frame to dive low to his left. His athleticism saved Claudio Braga’s penalty kick.

The 27-year-old goalkeeper, on loan from English side, Wycombe Wanderers, minutes later the Birkenhead-born stopper was receiving the congratulations of his St Mirren team-mates as his split-second decision sent Heart of Midlothian spinning out of the Premier Sports Cup.

The 25-year-old Portuguese crowd-pleaser picked the right side of the goal for Hearts’ third spot kick of the shootout after skipper Lawrence Shankland and substitute, Stephen Kingsley, had netted.

Alan Forrest and Beni Baningime also scored but their penalties were in vain after Braga’s failure. He was brave to step up and take one, but the showman, who arrived from Aalesunds FK in Norway failed to deceive George who previously made 67 appearances for Livingston.

The Jambos sailed through the group stages and were heavily fancied to go a distance in the first major competition of the Scottish football season, but they became the first big name to crash out as Richard King, Marcus Fraser, Jonah Ayunga, Evan Mooney and Malik Dijksteel all scored from the spot, a 100 per cent record.

Hearts dominated possession at Paisley, had more corners and more shots, but only scored once as the sides finished the 90 minutes level at 1-1. Alex Gogic volleyed St Mirren in front with his right foot after 34 minutes before a crowd of 4,738 in the SMISA Stadium, including a sold-out section of travelling fans.

He latched onto a Declan John cross to finish in style before saluting the fans, and it took until the 78th minute for Oisin McEntee to level after a corner by Harry Milne.

So, The Buddies move on to the quarter-final leaving Hearts to rue their poor marking in the penalty box which allowed Gogic the room to slam the ball past Zander Clark.

And Killian Phillips was denied by an acrobatic save from Clark as the home side pressed for a second.

Later, substitute Braga and Shankland forced George into action but, despite their possession, Hearts did not really test George enough during a bruising, physical battle in the Paisley sunshine.

Derek McInnes, Hearts’ head coach, said Hearts lost because they did not take advantage of being in control, not by missing a penalty kick, and he conceded that he could have started the game with too many who are new to Scottish football.

He told BBC Scotland Sport: “We’ve got to find more, we’ve got to find within ourselves, somebody to make that extra run, first contact, the confidence to go and take people on more, and just to try to force the game a wee bit.”

His counterpart, Stephen Robinson, said: “A wee bit of luck at last in the cup and, hopefully, a decent draw.”

Well, St Mirren now travel to either Kilmarnock or Dundee United in the quarter-final. Partick Thistle entertain Celtic, Rangers host Livingston or Hibernian and Aberdeen are at home to Motherwell.

DISAPPOINTMENT: Lawrence Shankland who converted from the spot but Hearts were KO’d from the Premier Sports Cup on penalties