1988 Scottish Cup final

1988 Scottish Cup Final

Event

1987–88 Scottish Cup

Celtic	Dundee United

2	1

Date

14 May 1988

Venue

Hampden Park, Glasgow

Referee

George Smith

Attendance

74,000

← 1987

1989 →

The 1988 Scottish Cup Final was played between Celtic and Dundee United at Hampden Park on 14 May 1988. Celtic had reached the final after coming from behind to defeat Hearts 2-1 in the semi-final, while Dundee United had had defeated Aberdeen 1-0 in their semi-final after two replays.^[1]

Celtic won 2–1, with Frank McAvennie scoring both of their goals. They had been 1-0 down after Kevin Gallacher put Dundee United ahead, only for McAvennie to score a late equaliser and then a winner with a low right foot shot at the back post after a corner to complete the double for Celtic, who were already Premier Division champions.^[2]

The guest of honour was British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, greeted by supporters of both teams by a wave of red cards.^[3] As she took her seat, thousands of supporters of both teams sang "you can stick your poll tax up your arse".^[4]

Match

Report

After a goalless first half, Kevin Gallacher opened the scoring for Dundee United a few minutes after halftime. Gallacher outpaced Celtic's Roy Aitken to a ball which had been headed forward by Eamonn Bannon and shot passed Celtic's goalkeeper Allen McKnight, who was in the team due to an injury to Celtic's regular goalie Packie Bonner. Shortly afterwards United failed to take the opportunity to increase their lead when Bannon missed two good opportunities. This proved costly when Frank McAvennie equalised for Celtic. McAvennie then scored the winner with 50 seconds of play remaining.^[5]

The defeat meant that United had now lost all five Scottish Cup finals that they had played in. The scoreline and pattern of the match was noted by reporter Jim Traynor for being similar to the 1985 final when Celtic had also defeated United. Traynor suggested that for United the final was like a 're-run of a bad movie'.^[5]

Details

14 May 1988

Celtic	2 – 1	Dundee United
Frank McAvennie 76', 90'	Report	Kevin Gallacher 49'

Hampden Park, Glasgow

Attendance: 74,000

Referee: George Smith


CELTIC:
GK	1	Allen McKnight
DF	2	Chris Morris
DF	5	Mick McCarthy
DF	6	Derek Whyte	?'
DF	3	Anton Rogan
MF	7	Joe Miller
MF	4	Roy Aitken
MF	8	Paul McStay
MF	11	Tommy Burns
FW	9	Frank McAvennie
FW	10	Andy Walker		?'
Substitutes:
MF		Billy Stark	?'
FW		Mark McGhee		?'
Manager:
Billy McNeill


DUNDEE UNITED:
GK	Billy Thomson
DF	David Bowman
DF	Paul Hegarty
DF	David Narey
DF	Maurice Malpas
MF	Billy McKinlay
MF	Jim McInally
MF	Eamonn Bannon
FW	Kevin Gallacher
FW	Mixu Paatelainen	?'
FW	Iain Ferguson
Substitutes:
MF	John Clark	?'
FW	Paul Sturrock
Manager:
Jim McLean

References

^ Potter, David; Jones, Phil H (2016). The History of the Scottish Cup the Story of every Season 1873-2016. Worthing: Pitch Publishing. pp. 263–264. ISBN 978-1-78531-214-4.
^ Wilson, Richard (6 September 2009). "Frank McAvennie interview". Herald Scotland. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
^ "British sport still suffers from Thatcher years". 9 April 2013. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
^ "Thatcher's Brutal Legacy in Scotland". 9 April 2013. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
^ ^a ^b Traynor, James (16 May 1988). "Thatcher is forgotten amid Celtic delirium". The Glasgow Herald. Retrieved 3 July 2018.

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