MJC

All things considered, especially how things were looking before Christmas and before Robinson left, we’ve actually done okay this season.

I don’t doubt that but it’s certainly a lot more common nowadays. I remember Stevie Kirk, Phil O’Donnell, Alex Burns etc scoring against us and celebrating with their teammates and albeit before my time, I’ve seen footage of Willie Pettigrew doing the same when scoring against us for Hearts. I had no problem with that whatsoever. By ‘celebrating’ I don’t mean doing a Derek Townsley(running the length of the East Stand giving the GIRUYs) or Scott McDonald(kissing the badge) but simply enjoying the moment with their own teammates.

That’s something in the modern game that I really don’t like. I think it’s fake and patronising but I appreciate that it’s ‘the done thing’ nowadays. A well worked goal and well taken nonetheless and a good win.

Nice one. Well worked and another for DC_44

To be honest I don't think Thomson's performance that day materially influenced the outcome. We never really threatened and once they went 1-0 up that was that. The penalty and the sending off was ridiculous but we had to score first if we were to have any chance in that final. Personally I thought the same referee sending off Kipre for a nothing clash with Scott Brown in the 0-0 game later that season was a far worse decision. Brown milked it and Thomson completely bought it, as he very often did.

That’s true and I think that losing a Cup Final to any of the sides remaining in the competition, especially St.Mirren, would be ten times worse than losing to Celtic like we have done in our last three finals. I’d imagine that for Dundee Utd in ‘91 losing to us four years after losing to St.Mirren and being favourites to win their first Scottish Cup must have been an absolute hammer blow. All the more so when you consider that we played for the majority of the second half and the whole of extra time with a severely injured goalkeeper who still managed to pull off a wonder save in the dying minutes of ET.

The draw is of course down to luck but to be fair the majority of non-OF sides who had won silverware in my lifetime have either beaten one of them en route or in the final itself, us in 91 included. Obviously there have been the odd exceptions with St.Johnstone this year with the LC and in 2014 and Hearts in ‘98 and ‘06 but in reality you know that the majority of times you are going to have to beat at least one of them if you want to lift silverware.

Off the top of my head, I think we've had five penalty shootouts against top flight sides and lost them all. Celtic in 86(?), Hibs in 2011, Accies in 2014, St.Mirren in 2020 and Hibs in 2021. With regards to season 17/18, we were excellent in the Cups that year and showed the character and bottle that we hadn't seen for years, even when we had a significantly better team during McCall's time. We did also have a fair share of luck throughout, especially in the Scottish cup. That season was one of my favourite seasons ever, Robinson to his credit came in and instilled a sense of belief in the team and that, along with the Cup runs created a real good feelgood factor throughout the club. I enjoyed that season more than I enjoyed the season where we finished second when we pipped Aberdeen in the final minute (as hilarious as that was at the time.) That's fair enough, I enjoyed it too especially the second half of season 2012/2013 when we played some absolutely tremendous football and had an excellent attacking side and some really good players. Higdon, Randolph, Nicky Law, Ojamaa and the return of McFadden who was excellent during that period. But it was just tinged with frustration that that team never won any silverware.

Absolutely this. For all the 2nd and 3rd placed finishes were great, they don't come near a Cup win. It's incredibly frustrating seeing that list and to think of the opportunities we missed during McCall's tenure when we had arguably the best team in the league outwith Celtic. In 2011/12 when Kilmarnock(who we had outperformed in the league) won the League Cup we went out at home to Hibs(whom we had also outperformed) on penalties in the 3rd Round. When Hearts(who we had outperformed in the league) won the Scottish Cup in that same season we went out against Aberdeen (who couldn't buy a win against us in the league) at home in the QFs. In 12/13 when we had our best side in years, St.Mirren won the League Cup and we had exited that tournament in the 3rd round to the then newly formed Rangers who were in the Third division at the time. When St.Johnstone (who we had outperformed in the League) won the Scottish Cup in 2014 we went out at the first hurdle to Albion fooking Rovers! And when Ross County won the League Cup in 2016 we had gone out against Morton in the 3rd Round. All of that is infuriating when you think of the chances missed.

Yeah that’s my point about not having the luck. We get to four finals and play the Old Firm every time, whereas if St.Johnstone get to the final then they will have played three finals in less than ten years where they haven’t played either of the OF in any of them. We have also had rotten luck with draws in earlier rounds, especially in the League Cup where since the format changed in 2016 we have been paired with a top flight side in every single knockout tie we’ve been in. It is also true though that we have lacked the necessary character at crucial times during Cup competitions, particularly when we had a good side under McCall yet we bottled it regularly against sides we were well capable of beating.

Correct, our penalty shootout record overall is awful. Have we ever beaten a fellow top flight side in a shootout? I don’t know if Morton were in the top flight in 91 or not but I think if they were then that would be the only time we have. Also our Cup record against top flight sides is pretty deplorable. I’m happy to be corrected if wrong here but outwith season 2017/18 we have only won ONCE against a top flight side since the 2011 SCSF. That was when we beat Livi in the last 16 of the League Cup in 2018. Us and Cups just don’t seem to go. We have neither the luck of the draw or the character to go all the way.

There’s a reason why we released him many years ago. Re-signing him now was akin to Alex Burns re-signing after a good season at Partick Thistle, ie. totally pointless. And Burns probably contributed more during his two spells.

Penalties aren’t about luck, they are about quality and more importantly bottle. We lacked both tonight and that’s why we lost.

We need to score the next goal. Simple as that.

Extra time.

HOLY FUUUUCKK!!!! 2-2

Oh! Goal!

We can have no complaints here, got what we deserved.

Agreed, but to be fair he’s not got a lot of options to pass to. We are extremely ‘rigid’ right across the park.

Watt on.

Exactly. Our only hope today was that Hibs failed to make their supremacy count and at the same time that we could nick a goal against the run of play and then see it out. Neither happened.

Game over.

They look sharper than us without seriously dominating. We look as though we are playing for penalties or else in the hope of nicking something from a set play. The first goal is everything here. They go 1-0 up then that’s that.

Half time 0-0. They’ve definitely shaded that first half but so far have nothing to show for it. I think if we’re going to get any joy from this game it’ll come from a set piece and as is often the case for us, if we can get the first goal.

I don’t think that was down to Rangers not being there, were we not already downsizing due to Dempster’s model of running the club? We were screaming from the rooftops about how we were going to have to cut our budget from the summer of 2011, a full year before Rangers went down the tubes and for each of the next three summers we were having to downsize the squad.