You can’t be too picky about how and when you win a Scottish Cup but, apart from the obvious huge disappointment that St Johnstone fans weren’t able to be at any of the five games their team won to lift the trophy for the second time in the club’s history, this run has been as close to perfection as you could wish to get.
Eric Nicolson looks back on five reasons this is a triumph that delivered on so many different fronts.
1 It might not be a derby but they don’t care
Maybe it’s just me, maybe it’s the fact that wounds were still raw from yet another semi-final defeat in the League Cup (to Aberdeen this time) or maybe it’s the passing of time but getting to the Scottish Cup last four in 2013/14 felt pretty humdrum.
Livingston were comfortably dispatched, Forfar even more so, and the quarter-final against Raith Rovers was a straightforward affair as well.
Before you knew it, Saints were back in a semi, when the real drama and excitement began.
This season was different.
There was a trip to Dens Park to open up and everything that goes with it.
After Charlie Adam’s pre-match “it’s not a derby” comments, Saints supporters couldn’t have chosen a sweeter way to knock their local rivals out of the competition than by the panto villain having a penalty saved.
Never before had Saints beaten Dundee away in the Scottish Cup.
Saints have won three cups and, with a parochial hat on, can now say they have overcome either Dundee United or Dundee along the way in every one of them.
2 The night that topped them all
Over the last decade St Johnstone have spoiled their supporters with so many special one-off matches that are worthy contenders in the ‘greatest game’ conversation.
And there have been plenty of others going even further back, particularly in the Alex Totten and Willie Ormond eras.
The Airdrie comeback, the 5-0 thrashing of Aberdeen, the European nights at Muirton, McDiarmid and on continental soil and the semi-final and final in 2014 are the ones that jump out.
Then you’ve got this season’s two Hampden semis and two Hampden finals.
But if you ask me to choose a stand-alone game/occasion that tops all the others for drama, significance, resonance across the football world and pure, unadulterated St Johnstone joy, it has to be Ibrox.
Despite the imminent prospect of a match report rewrite and the looming dread of how best to make sense of it all, this was an ending of a match that just needed to be watched with the laptop and notepad left alone.
ST JOHNSTONE EQUALISE IN THE 120TH MINUTE! 😱😱
Goalkeeper Zander Clark flicks it on and Chris Kane slots it home! 🔵⚪
Madness at Ibrox! 🤪#ScottishCup pic.twitter.com/4AF77kmlVd
— Premier Sports 📺 (@PremierSportsTV) April 25, 2021
The sight of big Zander Clark getting his head on Liam Craig’s corner and the reaction of the Saints players and management to it is a memory that will never fade.
And the penalty shoot-out wasn’t too bad either!
For a club which had never beaten Rangers in the Scottish Cup, to do it against this team (going for their own double and unbeaten in the league), in this manner is the stuff of fantasy.
3 But you didn’t beat the Old Firm, did you
Saints fans didn’t care, but those from rival clubs would try to water down their 2014 Scottish Cup and 2021 Betfred Cup triumphs by suggesting others did their dirty work by knocking Celtic and Rangers out and they were able to take advantage of a rose petal strewn path to glory.
Not this time.
As St Mirren found out in the Betfred, it’s one thing beating Rangers and another following it up.
By taking care of the Buddies in the semis (as an added bonus it’s always nice to remind the Scottish football community who the big Saints are) and then Hibs in the final, this full distance cup run has been set apart from the other two by virtue of the fact they had their night of nights AND framed it as part of winning the whole thing.
4 The free-kick and the chop
As the father of a football-daft 11-year-old, I can reliably confirm that wonder goals and ‘tekkers’ on the big stage leave a lasting impression.
Step forward Glenn Middleton and David Wotherspoon.
There have been some spectacular free-kicks scored at Hampden Park over the years but Middleton’s 25-yarder that made a very St Mirren good goalkeeper look foolish sits comfortably among them.
🎯 What a free-kick from Glenn Middleton to double @StJohnstone's lead 👏#ScottishCuppic.twitter.com/XSRBvW7OuK
— Scottish Cup (@ScottishCup) May 9, 2021
The technique was exquisite.
Talking of exquisite technique. Nobody at St Johnstone, arguably nobody in the Scottish Premiership, can put a ball under his spell as expertly as Wotherspoon.
Those of us who have watched him play a lot down the years know he’s produced far more extravagant chops than the one he needed to deceive Alex Gogic – it was more a feint actually. It’s a trademark skill all opponents know is in his locker but still fall for every time.
None as spectacularly or to such great cost as Gogic, mind you.
Three things certain in life:
Death, taxes and falling for the David Wotherspoon chop#SJFC
— St. Johnstone FC (@StJohnstone) May 23, 2021
For the Spoony Chop to lead to a cup double-winning goal felt fitting given the season he has had, the fact he’s now the only Saints player to start three cup finals and get three winners’ medal and that his run to leave Andy Robertson on the floor at Celtic Park in ’14 was the greatest nearly Scottish Cup final goal of all time.
And for the Middleton and Wotherspoon moments of genius to have happened at the national stadium just adds to their allure.
5 One legend now stands above the rest
Has there ever been a footballer more suited to the tag ‘cult hero’ than Shaun Rooney?
I’ll answer my own question – no.
The back-story, the charming laddishness, the nickname, the beard, the rawness, the power, the passion and the headers. Especially the headers.
It’s all there.
Booth 💥
Spoony 👋
Rooney 💣
The perfectly worked goal to secure the cup double!#SJFC pic.twitter.com/PburGrA6th
— St. Johnstone FC (@StJohnstone) May 23, 2021
This is man who will now be talked about as long as there is a St Johnstone Football Club – out on his own.
He’s scored the only goal to win both cups in one season (in the same minute on each occasion) and of all the characters in this team, he’s the one whose effervescence can’t be topped.
Shaun Rooney is a unique personality and the poster boy for a unique team.
