As far as Gregory Tade is concerned, one of his most iconic goals in Raith Rovers colours should never have happened.
The Kirkcaldy club were leading 1-0 against Aberdeen at Stark’s Park courtesy of an Iain Williamson strike back in February 2010.
Progress to the Scottish Cup quarter-final at the first time of asking seemed assured.
“Then the referee decided to gave them six or seven minutes of added time to equalise,” Tade tells Courier Sport. He has neither forgiven nor forgotten.
It was costly.
Ex-St Johnstone man Gary McDonald levelled. Chance gone, surely. The Scottish Premier League outfit were bound to buck up their ideas for the replay in the Granite City.
“When they scored I just said ‘fine, we will go to their place and win’,” laughs Tade. “They didn’t show us anything. It was justice for us to win at Pittodrie.”
The jocular Frenchman was as good as his word.
It was his scrambled close-range finish which secured a famous 1-0 victory for John McGlynn’s side at the home of the Reds.
He adds: “That game was the catalyst for my football career. It put me on the map and was a beautiful moment with a club that is still in my heart.”
Overcoming the odds
The misfortune Rovers conquered in order to defeat Aberdeen should not be understated.
Mark Campbell, club captain and mammoth presence in the dressing room, was involved in a car crash mere days before the fixture. He would go on to make a full recovery.
Another key centre-half, Dougie Hill, was injured in the warm-up.
“Mark was mentioned in the pre-match talk,” boss McGlynn said at the time. “He’s the leader of the pack and has such enormous presence. The lads were trying to win it for him.”
“The gaffer [McGlynn] went up to the hospital but none of the boys were able to go there,” recalls Rovers legend David McGurn, between the sticks that night.
“He was a huge character and a massive presence on the park and that’s something that shook us a bit.”
That, however, only added to the sense of heroism as a rag-tag resistance held Aberdeen at bay.
“It was backs-to-the-wall stuff. I can remember the roar from our fans every time we made a block or got the ball away,” smiles McGurn. “We dug in, covered each other and got over the line.”
The advantage Rovers were so vigorously defending was given to them by Tade. It was not his most spectacular goal, turning in an Allan Walker cross from point-blank range, but was one of his most memorable.
McGurn laughs: “Greg popped it in from all of a yard — and still almost missed it — then sprinted all the way down to celebrate in front of the home fans! He’s some man.”
‘We had technique, tactics; we could run and fight’
Tade bristles at the suggestion that Rovers’ triumph was some great underdog tale.
He contends that there is no such thing and, given his career soared from Forfar Athletic to Steaua Bucharest, perhaps that fearless attitude should be embraced.
“That’s the Scottish mentality sometimes. ‘Oh, we are underdogs’,” he continued. “Stop that. Why? It’s a game of football and it starts at 0-0.
“It is 11 vs 11 and, although they maybe have bigger salaries or budgets, why should that matter? That is making excuses. We had technique, tactics; we could run and fight — end of story.”
Can history repeat itself?
Rovers’ run was ultimately halted at Hampden with a semi-final defeat at the hands of eventual winners Dundee United.
But the campaign, which also included a stunning away win over Dundee in the last-eight, still has a place in Lang Toun folklore.
So, can lightning strike twice when Aberdeen visit on Sunday?
“Raith Rovers do not belong in the Championship. They play better football than most Premiership clubs,” lauds Tade.
“I am not saying that as a Raith fan — they are my second team after Nantes — but I am saying it as a football fan. The way they play should be taught in academies around Scotland.
“I’ll send this message to my old friends: you can beat them and must believe it.”
