2008 Scottish Cup final
The 2008 Scottish Cup Final was a football match which took place at Hampden Park in Glasgow on 24 May 2008.[1] The match was the final of the 123rd Scottish Cup and was contested by Queen of the South and Rangers. Rangers won the match 3-2.
Event
Queen of the South beat Aberdeen 4–3[2] in their semi-final, Rangers beat St Johnstone 4–3 on penalties after the match had ended 1–1 after extra time.[3]
First Division Queen of the South were contesting a Scottish Cup final for the first time in their history. The final was four weeks after the end of Queens' league season meaning the First Division side had not played a competitive game in that time.[2] This was Rangers' 50th appearance in the final, winning 31 times and losing 17, with one final (1909) resulting in the cup being withheld [4] It was Rangers' third cup final of the season, having won in the League Cup Final[5] and lost in the UEFA Cup Final.[6]
Match[edit]
Team news[edit]
Queen of the South started with the same team which had beaten Aberdeen in the semi-final with Stephen Dobbie and Sean O'Connor up-front as part of a 4-4-2 formation. The midfield was composed of Paul Burns, Neil MacFarlane, Steve Tosh and Jamie McQuilken. The defence was made up of Ryan McCann (the quarter-final hero with a goal against Dundee from 84 yards meriting an application to the Guinness Book of Records as the longest distance goal from an outfield player)[2] Jim Thomson, Andy Aitken and Robert Harris. Jamie MacDonald started in goal. Sean O'Connor was the only player not from Scotland in the team. The only player to drop out of the squad from the semi-final victory was former Rangers youth Brian Gilmour, with Scott Robertson taking his place on the bench.
Rangers also used a 4–4–2 formation, making four changes from the side who were beaten 2–0 in Aberdeen, with Kris Boyd and Jean-Claude Darcheville up-front. Rangers were without Nacho Novo who was suspended and without Chris Burke and Steven Naismith who were both injured, DaMarcus Beasley had recently returned from injury and was a surprise inclusion and started in midfield with Kevin Thomson, Barry Ferguson and Lee McCulloch. Steven Whittaker, Carlos Cuéllar, David Weir and Saša Papac made up the defence. Neil Alexander was making only his 12th start in goal for rangers. Carlos Cuéllar, Saša Papac, DaMarcus Beasley and Jean-Claude Darcheville were the non-Scots to start, meaning that 17 out of the 22 players that started the match were from Scotland, this was 5 more than the previous year.
Media coverage[edit]
The 2008 Scottish Cup Final between Rangers and Queen of the South was broadcast live in Scotland on BBC One Scotland and in the rest of the UK on Sky Sports Xtra. BBC One Scotland also broadcast highlights later on that night at 23:35 BST.
In North America it was broadcast live on pay-per-view Setanta Premium. In Kenya it was shown live on G Sports 1. In the Czech Republic it was shown live on Sport 1. In Italy it was shown live on Sky Sport 1 and Sky Super Calcio. In Russia it was broadcast live on 7tv. In Bosnia it was shown live on OBN BiH.
The final was also broadcast live on radio by BBC Radio Scotland, BBC Radio nan Gàidheal and BBC Radio 5 Live.