Dumbarton 0-1 Inverness Caledonian Thistle
Irn Bru Cup Final
McDiarmid Park
Saturday 24th March 2018
A cup final is always an occasion, no matter what teams are involved. The Challenge Cup has always been seen as the least significant of the national competitions in Scotland, and recent attempts to revive it have actually done as much to damage its reputation as boost it. But this was Dumbarton’s first national final since 1897, and 121 years of waiting made it the biggest occasion for any living Sons fan in their lifetimes.
Indeed, ten buses full of supporters left in a convoy from Dumbarton, with one more heading up earlier to place banners round the stadium and place alternating black and gold flags on every seat that had been sold to a Dumbarton fan. It was a colourful, noisy and festive cacophony in the Dumbarton end, and for 92 minutes it was probably the best atmosphere I’ve ever been a part of. The SonsTrust should be proud of their efforts to make this a truly special occasion.
The Venue
McDiarmid Park was a popular and sensible choice for this final, being situated roughly halfway between the two finalists’ locations, with ample parking and handily situated right off the main A9 road. My wife and I had arrived slightly later than anticipated due to a spontaneous trip to nearby Scone Palace, so parked at the half empty Tesco across the road with the promise of 3 hours free parking. Win-win.
McDiarmid has the distinction of being the first purpose built all seater stadium in the UK. With their previous Muirton Park home in need of a major upgrade, but the club struggling financially, an offer from Asda to buy the land and build them a new stadium at no cost to the club was gratefully accepted. Local farmer Bruce McDiarmid donated approximately sixteen acres of what he called at the time his “berry and barley fields” as a gift to the people of Perth, with his name being used for the new stadium. It was officially opened on August 19th 1989, when St Johnstone defeated Clydebank 2-1 on the opening day of the First Division season.
The Stadium has four stands, with the Main (West) Stand being slightly taller and larger than the others. The floodlights were moved from Muirton Park. The stadium has a capacity of 10,696 and this was the tenth time it has hosted the Challenge Cup Final, making it by far the most used venue for the showpiece of the competition. We were sitting today roughly in line with the 18 yard line at the south end of the ground in the third row from the front and had a fantastic view. I can’t imagine there’s actually a bad seat in what I found to be an excellent place to watch football.
The Teams
Dumbarton’s road to the final began on a horrifically wet night in August with a 2-1 win over Rangers Under 20s. An early penalty from Calum Gallagher and a goal just after half time from Mark Stewart were enough to see off the Rangers youngsters in front of just 389 fans. Many Sons supporters had heeded calls to boycott games in the competition against Premiership youth teams. Dumbarton’s second round game was a first for the club, as they played Connah’s Quay Nomads in their first ever competitive game against a team from outwith the Scottish system. Nomads took the lead thanks to a 26th minute penalty and then put in one of the most disgraceful performances I’ve ever witnessed, doing everything within their power to waste time and kill the game. It worked for an hour, but David Wilson’s goal four minutes from time took the game to extra time. Nomads had George Horan sent off with a minute to go and up stepped Dimitris Froxylias, who had signed less than 48 hours earlier to send the resulting free kick into the net to ensure instant cult hero status. In an ironic twist of fate, Nomads missed their train home, the irony of which was not lost on the home support.
In the third round, Dumbarton defeated League 1 Stranraer 2-1 in a game played on a Friday night because the stadium had been rented out for a wedding on the Saturday. Goals from Craig Barr and Mark Stewart set up a quarter final with League 1 title chasers Raith Rovers. Rovers were comfortably dispatched by 2 goals to nil with goals from Chris McLaughlin and Ally Roy. Not even Tom Walsh’s missed penalty could dampen the spirits of reaching a semi-final. The last four match was the first away trip of the competition for the Sons and saw them travel to Oswestry to take on Welsh champions The New Saints. The over 500 travelling supporters were treated to two of the best goals anywhere this season after going a goal behind in the second half. Danny Handling’s 74th minute equaliser was a thing of beauty, but even that couldn’t compare to Froxylias’ 40 yard free kick winner, which sent the visiting fans into raptures, and their first major final since 1897. Froxylias was a doubt going into this final after playing 64 minutes for Cyprus in his international debut just 24 hours before kick off, but through sheer determination and well timed flights, he made it in time for a place on the bench
Inverness saw one less game on their route to the final, starting in the second round with a 4-2 win “away” to Aberdeen’s Under 20s in a game that took place at Brechin’s Glebe Park in front of just 175 fans. A comfortable 3-0 win over League 2 Peterhead in the third round set up an enticing looking home quarter final against fellow Championship strugglers Falkirk. In a game broadcast by BBC Alba, the 1,078 inside the Caledonian Stadium, plus those watching on TV at home were treated to a drab game only lit up by Connor Bell’s second half goal.
Caley’s semi-final was a much livlier affair as the they hosted Northern Irish side Crusaders for a place in the final. The home side were 2-0 up within the first fifteen minutes, and went into half-time three goals to the good as Jake Mulraney added a third just before the break. Crusaders hit back after 57 minutes through Paul Heatley, who added a second 22 eleven minutes from time after Brad McKay had been sent off for the Scots. Despite a nervy ending, the hosts held on to reach their fourth Challenge Cup Final
The Game
Despite a sizeable and noisy crowd, the game wasn’t really high on quality, and was more notable for mistakes than any moments of magic. Referee Andrew Dallas and his assistants had an interesting afternoon showing a frustrating lack of consistency and at times what looked like a genuine shortfall of knowledge of the rules. This is by no means sour grapes, as both teams managed to benefit and suffer from some of the downright bizarre decisions being made.
Dumbarton shaded the first half in terms of performance, despite creating little in the way of chances. Shooting towards the Inverness end, the Sons failed to give Caley goalkeeper Mark Ridgers much of a test despite efforts from Iain Russell and Danny Handling having the Dumbarton end on their feet. Chris McLaughlin picked up a yellow card for a late, high tackle late in the first half that on another day could easily have been a red and the booking seemed to spark Caley into life, with both Bell and Polworth testing Scott Gallacher in the Dumbarton goal. 0-0 at half time, which was unsuprising given the 45 minutes we’d just watched.
Dumbarton sat back as the second half began and allowed Caley to press increasingly further forward. Despite the frustrations brewing in the Sons’ end with the tactics, Inverness were struggling to create anything of real substance. Dumbarton finally started to create some half chances following the introductions of Froxylias and Stewart midway through the second half, but Ridgers was still untested in the Caley goal.
There was major drama in the 83rd minute when Dallas pointed to the spot as Caley were pressing. The penalty seemed to be given for handball against McLaughlin (I was at the other end of the pitch and couldn’t clearly see the exact reason). Interestingly, McLaughlin was not shown a second yellow card. The drama was multiplied when Iain Vigurs’ low effort was saved and smothered by the impressive Gallacher. Just as it looked like thirty extra minutes were coming our way, Dumbarton’s defence switched off and defender Carl Tremarco bundled home sixteen year old Daniel McKay’s cross deep into stoppage time to send the Cup north. An absolutely sickening way to lose any game, never mind a cup final. Most Sons fans stayed back to applaud the team off the pitch after a stellar effort, but after such a cracking day out, there will have been some quiet trips back to Dumbarton.
The Pies
We arrived a bit late and still full from lunch to bother with a pre-match pie, and that meant that I was not to sample the fare on offer at McDiarmid Park. I went to join the horrendously long queue well in advance of halftime to find it snaking round their concession room, barely moving and the young, understaffed servers in a state of chaos. I left with no food and later found out that they had run out of pies anyway. A bit of a shambolic effort that St Johnstone should take a look at rectifying if they have another big event like this.
Thankfully, Kaitlin and I had stopped for lunch at the Boozy Cow in Stirling on the way up to Perth. Their Holy Cow burger, skinny fries, onion rings and a pint of their fantastic Boozy Brew lager had us so stuffed that the lack of a pie wasn’t a huge deal. Boozy Cow have branches in Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen as well and I’d highly recommend checking them out. Their food and vibe are fantastic and all their profits go to local charities. They’re well up near the top of my favourite places to eat.
Admission: £15
Programme: £3 (84 pages, very few adverts, a really fantastic souvenir of the day)
Pie: £2.20 – £2.50
Bovril: £2.10!!!
Attendance: 4,602
Pies on the Terraces 