CHILDHOOD DREAM IS CLOSE FOR JONAH

Saints star wants real medal for collection

- BY FRASER WILSON

A BOX full of two-bob trophies lies stashed away in a wardrobe somewhere in the Ayunga household.

It's a long-abandoned nod to a successful youth football upbringing in the Dorset leagues.

An introduction to the game that gave rise to a professional career which, two decades later, sees Jonah Ayunga standing 90 minutes away from landing a Premier Sports Cup winners' medal he'd never tire of showing off to the world.

And that, says the St Mirren striker, would be priceless.

Ayunga certainly won't take the occasion for granted when he runs out at Hampden for the first final of his senior career.

The former Morecambe and Bristol Rovers hitman has never got near a trophy since swapping the days of plastic awards in youth football for the real deal in the pro game.

And while Celtic might be odds-on to defend their silverware at the National Stadium this afternoon, Ayunga reckons his Saints teammates have their eyes firmly on the prize.