The story of Jim Leishman leading the Pars back to glory, starting in 1983 with his first spell as manager , is Scottish football folklore. However, it has only been in the last three years that the Pars have really threatened to rekindle their cup tradition with a Scottish Cup final appearance in 2004 (beaten) and a League Cup final appearance two years later (beaten again). Defeats of Hearts and Rangers in this season's Scottish Cup (along with a win over Partick) have set up Sunday's semi with Hibs and a hat trick of wins over leading clubs in this season's competition would surely make any final against Celtic more than a formality for the Glasgow side, the Pars would have real credibility going into this season's final. Should St Johnstone make the final it would be shades of ' 68 and the last time the Pars won the trophy. They beat Hearts 3-1 in the final that year and the press of the day dubbed the game "The Outsiders Fina". The Scottish League even played a League card on the day of the final in 1968 with Rangers losing to Aberdeen at Ibrox (while the Pars won the cup at Hampden in front of only 56,000, poor for those times) more or less handing the Division 1 title to Celtic. These days any permutation in the SFA Cup Final will be given its own special day and the buzz around Dunfermline town is this is the Pars year. Hibs definitely looked out of sorts in the SPL game at East End Park last Saturday as the Pars won 1-0 to set up a relegation cup final of sorts against St Mirren. The majority of Fifers are saying Hibs players will fall over their collective petted lips again this weekend and the Pars will go onto face Celtic in a repeat of the 1961, 1965 and 2004 finals. Some other Pars fans want the Perth Saints in the final as they feel any First Division club would still fall to the SPL strugglers from Scotland's former capital. Pars manager Stephen Kenny always reminds me of a mild mannered character that should have been on Craggy Island helping out Father Ted but as the former Derry City boss paced up and down the home technical area at East End last Saturday he was obviously looking to emulate Martin O'Neill. He was even sporting the O'Neill tracksuit look which has also been recently adopted by Paul Lambert at Wycombe! There is a togetherness at Dunfermline Athletic that has only been briefly mentioned by the national press so far and there are other dynamics that I think will make this the Pars year in the cup. Liverpool's on loan star Adam Hammill looking to win a starting place in the Premiership by turning it on on the big occasions at Hampden, Stevie Crawford and Mark Burchill perhaps looking for a last shot at glory in a Pars shirt and Dutch goalie Dorus De Vries looking like he is about to go on a run of form after commanding against Hibs last Saturday in the league. These are possible key factors as the Pars look to heap more pressure on John Collins from 3pm on Sunday at the national stadium. On this occasion history could repeat itself with the Fife side winning by the solitary goal. The end of 105 years of hurt for Hibs in the cup this year is far from being a certainty. | |||
| Editor Ger Harley (ger@scottishfitba net) Admin Team (admin@scottishfitba net) This is ScottishFitba Net |
