Scottish Student Cup Finals

Edinburgh University 0-2 Stirling University
Scottish Student Sport Women’s Cup Final
St Andrews University 0-0 Strathclyde University (St Andrews win 6-5 on penalties)
Queen’s Park Shield Final
Lesser Hampden
Wednesday 4th April 2018

It’s April. So of course it was snowing today. But that wasn’t going to stop the Scottish Student Cup Finals from taking place. In the literal shadow of Hampden Park, the four teams who had progressed to the showpiece games in Scottish University sport were to brave the conditions and fight for the silverware. The Queen’s Park Shield has been the premier cup competition for Scottish Men’s University teams since 1921. The Scottish Student Sport Women’s Cup is a more recent introduction, to give the womens’ teams an equivalent competition.

The Venue

Sitting adjacent to Scotland’s national stadium, Lesser Hampden is owned by Queen’s Park and is mainly used by their youth and women’s teams. Since its redevelopment following the 2014 Commonwealth Games it has become the regular home for the student cup finals.

After being used as a training area for the athletic competitions at Glasgow 2014, Lesser had a major facelift, with a brand new 4G pitch being laid, new changing, catering and corporate facilities being installed, and a large uncovered seating area – somewhat of a Glasgow speciality – also being put in. There’s a sizeable covered enclosure that has survived from before the redevelopment, as well as substantial hard standing, including some which is handily under a balcony. The spectator areas are raised well above pitch level and give a pretty good view from wherever you are.

There’s grass banking round the other three sides of the pitch, but it doesn’t seem to be used for spectators. There isn’t really any information on the current capacity, although I’d hazard a guess that it could comfortably hold about 1500. It was a horrible day today, but anyone who wanted to stay dry definitely could have done so. It’s a fantastic venue for these finals.

The Teams

Neither of today’s finalists in the Women’s Cup were required to play in the competition’s qualifying round, so both entered at the second round stage. Edinburgh came through the competition by dispatching the 3rd team from St Andrews by six goals to nil in the second round. Their quarter final at home to Aberdeen saw a dominant performance result in a 5-0 win to set up a semi-final with St Andrews. A 0-0 draw at Peffermill ended with Edinburgh pick up a 6-5 win on penalties to send them to the final. Edinburgh finished their league season on top of Scottish Division 1A for the third time in the last five years. They also reached the quarter finals of the British Trophy. Their team today consisted of several players with senior experience, most notably Republic of Ireland captain and Arsenal star Katie McCabe.

Stirling incredibly only played one game on their route to today’s final. Their second round match against Heriot-Watt was awarded to them when their opponents couldn’t manage to field a team. Their scheduled quarter final against St Andrews 2nd team went the same way, so they didn’t take the field until the semi-final. They took on Glasgow at Gannochy and ran out 4-0 winners to set up today’s match. They finished the season third in the BUCS Premier North and earned themselves their first ever spot in the BUCS Championship tournament. They reached the semi-finals of that competition, where they were beaten by eventual winners, Durham. Stirling’s team today contained many of their SWPL side, but interestingly also featured Rachel Donaldson, who plays her senior football at SWPL rivals Celtic.

St Andrews started their Queen’s Park Shield campaign in the second round with a 7-6 penalty shoot out win at Heriot-Watt after a 2-2 draw. Their quarter final saw them visit Premier North side Stirling, where they ran out surprise 3-2 winners. St Andrews booked their place in the final with a 1-0 win at home to Aberdeen. They finished their league campaign second in Scottish 2A, missing out on the league title and promotion by just one point.

Strathclyde began their campaign with a 4-0 win away to West of Scotland (Hamilton). Their quarter final was played just along the road from today’s venue at Toryglen, where they defeated Edinburgh Napier by three goals to nil. Their semi-final was played just last week after some weather related postponements, and other cup fixtures. They travelled to Edinburgh and fought to a 2-1 win to seal their place in the final. Strathclyde finished bottom of Scottish 1A this season, and will play in 2A next year. They did, however also reach the semi-finals of the British Trophy, losing to eventual winners Robert Gordon, and lost out to Heriot-Watt in the semi-final of the Scottish Conference Cup.

The Games

The Women’s Cup Final was the first of the two games, kicking off at 12.30. It was a fairly subdued start by both teams, who were trying their best to adjust to the difficult conditions. Stirling had the first real chance of the game after seven minutes, but Donaldson’s shot was deflected wide. Edinburgh started to see a lot of the ball, and with sixteen minutes gone, Beth MacLeod found herself one on one with Stirling goalkeeper Chloe Logan, who pulled of an excellent save to keep the game goalless. The deadlock was broken after 23 minutes when Stirling won a corner. Beth McKay’s corner was fumbled by Edinburgh keeper Charlotte Parker-Smith and ended up in the back of the net. The rest of the first half progressed with both teams having good spells of possession without creating much in the way of chances. Both sides had speculative efforts easily held by the respective goalkeepers. Stirling took their 1-0 lead into halftime, despite Edinburgh enjoying more of the ball.

The second half followed much the same pattern, with Edinburgh having more of the ball, but not really able to create much with it. They created a good chance with an hour gone when MacLeod found herself one on one with Logan again. She slipped her shot underneath the keeper, but the offside flag had gone up. A good spell of play from Edinburgh followed this up, but Stirling found themselves on the counter attack. A long range effort from Kim Guthrie stung the palms of Parker-Smith, who dropped the ball right on her goal line. Katy Morris was there to follow up on the error, but the ball may have already been over the line anyway.

Edinburgh didn’t let their heads go down after the second huge mistake from their keeper and pushed hard to get themselves back into the game. They created two good chances through MacLeod and Reynolds, but Logan was the equal to them in the Stirling goal. Logan did make an uncharacteristic mistake after 75 minutes, when she picked up the ball having already dropped it, leading to an indirect free kick inside the box, which was smothered after the usual scramble those situations lead to. It was Stirling who had the best chance of the closing stages though, when Donaldson’s excellent long range effort was well tipped over by Parker-Smith. In the end, it was Stirling who prevailed in an entertaining game to win their second consecutive Scottish Student Sport Women’s Cup.

Following a quick break, and the appearance of 140 or so noisy St Andrews students enjoying their Easter Holidays, it was time for the Queen’s Park Shield final to kick off at 3 p.m. Backed by their singing section, it was Saints who had the best of a frantic opening with both Bolotov and Balmford having good chances to open the scoring inside the first fifteen minutes. Strathclyde should have taken the lead midway through the first half, as Saints keeper Cazdow committed himself and was beaten by the Strathclyde winger. He was forced too wide though and could only roll his shot wide. St Andrews continued to dominate possession, but the first half petered out somewhat, and the teams went into the break scoreless.

Saints came out of the blocks quickly in the second half, with Bolotov again causing problems. He twice forced the Strathclyde keeper into good saves in the opening minutes of the half, but still the breakthrough wasn’t to come. Things were starting to get cagey, and neither side was really able to break the other down. The majority of the game was being played in the midfield, with only half chances being eked out by either team. With a penalty shootout looming, Strathclyde piled on the pressure in the final ten minutes, forcing Cazdow into three fantastic saves to keep his side in it. Those three saves were crucial as the full time whistle went, sending the game to penalties to decide the winner.

There were some nerves of steel on display during this penalty shootout. Both teams scored with their opening kick, and both goalkeepers pulled off excellent saves on the second attempts. The next four attempts by both teams were coolly put away, leaving the seventh choice penalty takers with a massive weight on their shoulders. Findlay Tough stepped up for St Andrews and slotted a confident penalty into the bottom corner. And as he was at the end of regular time, Cazdow became the hero for St Andrews as he saved Strathclyde’s spot kick, giving the Saints their first Queen’s Park Shield victory since 1943 and sparking scenes of jubilation amongst their travelling support. An excellent day of football, despite the Arctic weather.

(credit for this photo to Scottish Student Sport)

The Pies

There were no pies today, but Queen’s Park did have their “Bistro” kiosk open. It was serving an array of hot drinks, and once again the Bovril was greatly appreciated as a way to keep my fingers intact. The lack of pies was made up for by the Rollover hot dogs. At £2.50 a pop for a foot long dog on a baguette, it was the food of choice for just about everyone in attendance.

Admission: Free
Programme: None
Pie: None. Hot Dog £2.50
Bovril: £1.70
Attendance: 95 / 210 (Approx headcounts)