Active Nation Scottish Cup Final 2010

Dundee Utd 3 Ross County 0

Three second half goals saw Dundee United cruise to their first Scottish Cup win in 16 years and bring Ross County’s Giant Killing Journey to a crashing halt.

Having disposed of three SPL teams in the earlier rounds, including a dramatic semi- final victory against Celtic, big things were expected of “The Staggies” who more than exceeded expectations on the day in bringing 20,000 fans to a sun kissed National Stadium.

In perfect weather the scene was set for a memorable cup final, worthy of its 125^th anniversary.  You had the pre match build up with acrobatic dancers, the flag parade celebrating previous winners in the history of the world’s oldest cup competition.

Then add to that you had the appearance of the first ever Highland League side to grace Scottish Football’s showcase finale, having rewrote the form books on three occasions in getting there.

On the other side of the field you had a United side, who looked as if they were heading on a downward slope following the departure of Craig Levein as Manager and the hammering by Rangers in the league not so long after, questioning the job prospects of former assistant manager and interim Boss, Peter Houston.

But under Houston, the Arabs have since managed to regroup and discover their form at the right time, finishing third in the league and having knocked out Rangers out on the way to Hampden, they were firm favourites to get their name back on the prestigious trophy at the weekend.

Therefore big things were expected in this game, but unfortunately the first half was anything but a classic as County played with only one player up, hoping to catch United on the break.  

But with the Taysiders being too strong at the back, the Highlanders could not even get one shot on target during the first 45 minutes

However you felt that even as the first half progressed, it was only a matter of time before Houston’s men would make the breakthrough in what had been a dull encounter.

And it came courtesy of a moment that goal keeper Mick McGovern would want to forget in 61 minutes when he could only have what could described as a rush of blood to the head, finishing outside the box and tried to head the ball clear.

Unfortunately the ball fell to the feet of David Goodwillie who showed his class in quickly taking advantage of the wide open goal and sending in a perfectly executed lob for the opening goal.

Desperation appeared to be creeping into County’s play as they continued to struggle to reproduce form from the earlier round, whereas United's confidence continued to rise.

And even though there was still time for County to get back into the game, their dreams collapsed around them with another moment of class that was worthy of a cup final when Conway raced on to a Goodwillie flick shrugging off a challenge from Gary Miller, weaving through to the edge of the box sending a terrific angle shot into the corner of the net.

County, despite their efforts never looked as if they were going to score and continued to struggle against United and more misery was to come their way five minutes from time when Conway finished off some terrific build up work drilling the ball past McGovern at the right hand post.

 “Staggies” Boss insisted that despite the disappointment of his team not being able to deliver the kind of form shown on the day, he remains proud of his team and what they had achieved to get them to Hampden.

He said: “We did not perform today, but don’t take anything away from the players as this has been a great season. We are disappointed that we did not win.   But we did not deserve to win.”

“Dundee United have the quality players and you cannot take anything away from them.”

As for a delighted Peter Houston, he has still to learn if has secured the Managers job on a permanent basis.   But having led the team to their first Scottish Cup Final win in 16 years, it will not have done his long term job prospects any harm at all.

“I am lost for words as to what this means to this football club.” He said.  “"It was very congested in the middle of the park; we like to play football and they put an extra in there and they had one striker.”

"I don't think they had a chance really. The second half opened up a wee bit and they went with two up front. I was delighted with that because it opened it up for us."

"I thought the boys had done magnificently well to contain Ross County; we just made some wrong choices at times.

"But it's hard to have a go at these guys because they've worked ever so hard for us - we've had a magnificent season."

Three second half goals saw Dundee United cruise to their first Scottish Cup win in 16 years and bring Ross County’s Giant Killing Journey to a crashing halt.

Having disposed of three SPL teams in the earlier rounds, including a dramatic semi- final victory against Celtic, big things were expected of “The Staggies” who more than exceeded expectations on the day in bringing 20,000 fans to a sun kissed National Stadium.

In perfect weather the scene was set for a memorable cup final, worthy of its 125^th anniversary.  You had the pre match build up with acrobatic dancers, the flag parade celebrating previous winners in the history of the world’s oldest cup competition.

Then add to that you had the appearance of the first ever Highland League side to grace Scottish Football’s showcase finale, having rewrote the form books on three occasions in getting there.

On the other side of the field you had a United side, who looked as if they were heading on a downward slope following the departure of Craig Levein as Manager and the hammering by Rangers in the league not so long after, questioning the job prospects of former assistant manager and interim Boss, Peter Houston.

But under Houston, the Arabs have since managed to regroup and discover their form at the right time, finishing third in the league and having knocked out Rangers out on the way to Hampden, they were firm favourites to get their name back on the prestigious trophy at the weekend.

Therefore big things were expected in this game, but unfortunately the first half was anything but a classic as County played with only one player up, hoping to catch United on the break.  

But with the Taysiders being too strong at the back, the Highlanders could not even get one shot on target during the first 45 minutes

However you felt that even as the first half progressed, it was only a matter of time before Houston’s men would make the breakthrough in what had been a dull encounter.

And it came courtesy of a moment that goal keeper Mick McGovern would want to forget in 61 minutes when he could only have what could described as a rush of blood to the head, finishing outside the box and tried to head the ball clear.

Unfortunately the ball fell to the feet of David Goodwillie who showed his class in quickly taking advantage of the wide open goal and sending in a perfectly executed lob for the opening goal.

Desperation appeared to be creeping into County’s play as they continued to struggle to reproduce form from the earlier round, whereas United's confidence continued to rise.

And even though there was still time for County to get back into the game, their dreams collapsed around them with another moment of class that was worthy of a cup final when Conway raced on to a Goodwillie flick shrugging off a challenge from Gary Miller, weaving through to the edge of the box sending a terrific angle shot into the corner of the net.

County, despite their efforts never looked as if they were going to score and continued to struggle against United and more misery was to come their way five minutes from time when Conway finished off some terrific build up work drilling the ball past McGovern at the right hand post.

 “Staggies” Boss insisted that despite the disappointment of his team not being able to deliver the kind of form shown on the day, he remains proud of his team and what they had achieved to get them to Hampden.

He said: “We did not perform today, but don’t take anything away from the players as this has been a great season. We are disappointed that we did not win.   But we did not deserve to win.”

“Dundee United have the quality players and you cannot take anything away from them.”

As for a delighted Peter Houston, he has still to learn if has secured the Managers job on a permanent basis.   But having led the team to their first Scottish Cup Final win in 16 years, it will not have done his long term job prospects any harm at all.

“I am lost for words as to what this means to this football club.” He said.  “"It was very congested in the middle of the park; we like to play football and they put an extra in there and they had one striker.”

"I don't think they had a chance really. The second half opened up a wee bit and they went with two up front. I was delighted with that because it opened it up for us."

"I thought the boys had done magnificently well to contain Ross County; we just made some wrong choices at times.

"But it's hard to have a go at these guys because they've worked ever so hard for us - we've had a magnificent season."

Active Nation Scottish cup Semi- Final 2010