St Mirren 1
Dundee Utd 0 (AET)
Scottish Cup (Final)

Match Report

Our fourth Cup Final appearance in 13 years ended as all the previous ones - in defeat, but this was perhaps the bitterest pill of all to swallow. In truth we never really played well enough to deserve to win the Cup for the first time in our history, but again a controversial offside decision at Hampden was of crucial significance.

A game of few chances had gone into extra-time, and at the beginning of the second period, we looked to be on the way to victory. Ian Redford, having taken up a good position on the left, made a superb run before crossing low into the middle, the on rushing Kevin Gallacher missed the ball, but Iain Ferguson following up didn't and crashed the ball into the net. Jubilation turned to total frustration when a linesman's flag indicated that Kevin Gallacher's momentum had taken him into an offside position on the goal line and the referee chalked off the goal.

It was so reminiscent of Paul Sturrock's disallowed goal in the 1981 League Cup Final, and the roof fell in for United supporters nine minutes from the end of extra-time when Saints' Ian Ferguson broke clear and hammered a low shot past the advancing Billy Thomson and won the Cup.