club are through to the Scottish Cup Final following
this afternoon's 3-0 victory over Dundee at Hampden.
The Raydale Park club will return to Mount Florida on
May 13 as the first'third-tier' team to reach the
Scottish Cup Final since the birth of League football,
to face the winners of tomorrow's semi-final between
Hearts and Hibernian, and whilst they have certainly
enjoyed the luck of the draw en route to Hampden (not
having faced an SPL outfit throughout the competition)
few could dispute that they were worthy winners today.
It was an open game, although few chances were created
during the first-half. Gretna it was who first
threatened in 23 minutes when James Grady (just as
niggling and harassing as ever) dispossessed Barry
Smith only for his low cross to elude the inrushing
Kenny Deuchar.
Fourteen minutes later Gavin Skelton played a one-two
with Deuchar before bursting into the box where his
shot was held by Dundee goalkeeper Kelvin Jack.
The half appeared destined to end goalless, until
right on the whistle an error by Tom McManus saw his
passback force Stuart McCluskey to head the ball into
the path of Deuchar who rounded Jack before stroking
the ball home despite the valiant effort of Bobby Mann
to clear his lines.
The goal was a massive boost to Gretna, but whilst it
had been an opponent's mistake that led to the score
their second goal was due to a shocking error on the
part of Referee Calum Murray when he awarded a penalty
for a non-existent body-check by Bobby Mann on Ryan
McGuffie.
There was absolutely no contact, and whilst McGuffie
should have been yellow-carded for a blatant dive he
instead converted the penalty to put his side 2-0
ahead.
Dundee had scarcely had an effort worthy of the name
until the 70th minute when Bryan Deasley saw his
twenty-yard shot parried by the experienced Alan Main,
only for Simon Lynch to be forced out of the danger
zone.
Lynch incidentally is the son of Andy, scorer of the
winning goal in the 1977 Scottish Cup Final with
another non-existent penalty.
Gretna's victory was secured in 81 minutes when Jamie
McQuilken's cross was turned into his own net by
Smith.
The Border club's fans celebrated widly, and
afterwards Manager Rowan Alexander summarised:
"I'm absolutely delighted. We broke down Dundee. My
players were well-focused and professional. Today was
our Cup Final. My players deserve all the plaudits -
we were the better team. We are a small-town team who
set our own standards. We will grow. Gretna Football
Club have arrived."
A crestfallen Dundee Manager Alan Kernaghan reflected:
"I'm disappointed. We didn't do enough to win the
game. The first goal changed the complex of the game.
We gifted them three goals."
GRETNA Main; Birch, Nicholls (McQuilken 77); Tosh,
Townsley, Innes; O'Neil, McGuffie, Deuchar, Grady
(Shields 77), Skelton
UNUSED SUBS Mathieson, McBride, Berkeley
DUNDEE Jack; Robertson, Dixon; Mann, MacDonald, Smith;
Deasley, Brady (Robb 75), Lynch, McManus (Craig 63),
McCluskey (McDonald 52)
UNUSED SUBS Murray, Law
REFEREE Calum Murray
Attendance 14,179