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The 2010 Scottish Cup Final was the 125th
final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...
of the Scotland's most prestigious
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
knockout competition, the
Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Hampden Park Hampden Park (Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden''), often referred to as Hampden, is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The -capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland. It is the no ...
,
Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
and was contested by first time finalists Ross County and 1994 winners
Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...
. Craig Conway scored a brace as Dundee United ended a wait of 16 years to win the Scottish Cup for the second time in the club's history. The match was the first final since
1938 Events January * January 1 ** The Constitution of Estonia#Third Constitution (de facto 1938–1940, de jure 1938–1992), new constitution of Estonia enters into force, which many consider to be the ending of the Era of Silence and the a ...
in which both teams came from outwith the
Central Belt The Central Belt of Scotland is the area of highest population density within Scotland. Depending on the definition used, it has a population of between 2.4 and 4.2 million (the country's total was around 5.4 million in 2019), including Great ...
.


Background

Dundee United had previously reached the Scottish Cup Final eight times, winning only one of them, while Ross County were making their first ever Scottish Cup final. Ross County join the list of lower division sides who have reached the final in the last five years, Gretna in
2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...
and Queen of the South in
2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
. Dundee United and Ross County had played each other only four times before, with United winning the last three. All of their encounters had been in the
League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...
, Ross County won the first game at
Victoria Park Victoria Park may refer to: Places Australia * Victoria Park Nature Reserve, a protected area in Northern Rivers region, New South Wales * Victoria Park, Adelaide, a park and racecourse * Victoria Park, Brisbane, a public park and former golf ...
on 19 August 1998, 2–0 after extra time, their next encounter came almost exactly a year later on 18 August 1999 at
Tannadice Park Tannadice Park ( gd, Pàirc Thanachais), usually referred to as Tannadice, is a football stadium in Dundee, Scotland. It is the home ground of Dundee United F.C., who have played at Tannadice since the club was founded as Dundee Hibernian in ...
when United won 3–1. Eight years after their last encounter they met again at Tannadice where United got a 2–1 win. They then played each other earlier in the 2009-2010 season with United winning 2–0 at Victoria Park.


Route to the final


Ross County

Ross County entered in the third round, playing their first match against Third Division side Berwick Rangers. In rounds four and five, Ross County scored a total of thirteen goals, first against non-league Inverurie Loco Works, then facing Second Division side Stirling Albion. Their quarter-final match was their first against an
SPL SPL may refer to: Association football * Saudi Professional League * Scottish Premier League * SportPesa Premier League, Kenya * Singapore Premier League * RoboCup Standard Platform League, matches between autonomous robots Computing Program ...
side, and they took Hibernian to a replay, which they won with a goal in the 90th minute. In their semi-final at Hampden, they faced Celtic and defeated them 2–0, booking their first appearance in the final of the Scottish Cup.


Dundee United

As a member of the SPL, Dundee United did not enter till the fourth round. Their fourth-round game was against First Division side Partick Thistle and fifth-round game was against SPL side St. Johnstone. In the quarter-final, United took the defending champions Rangers to a replay at Tannadice in which they won 1–0. In the semi-final they faced another First Division team in Raith Rovers, who they beat 2–0.


Ticketing

Dundee United sold more than 20,000 tickets for the match up to the end of April and have asked the
Scottish Football Association The Scottish Football Association (also known as the SFA and the Scottish FA; sco, Scots Fitba Association; Scottish Gaelic: ''Comann Ball-coise na h-Alba'') is the Sport governing body, governing body of association football, football in Scot ...
for another 5,000 tickets. Ross County president Roy McGregor expects 20,000 supporters to attend the final, after they sold the initial allocation of 11,000 tickets in just three days. Another batch of 5,000 was received from the SFA and all expect to sell out.


European qualification

The winner automatically qualifies for the
play-off round The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...
of the
2010–11 UEFA Europa League The 2010–11 UEFA Europa League was the second season of the UEFA Europa League, Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 40th edition overall including its predecessor, the UEFA Cup. It began on 1 July 2010, with ...
. Because Dundee United had finished in a Europa League spot in the
SPL SPL may refer to: Association football * Saudi Professional League * Scottish Premier League * SportPesa Premier League, Kenya * Singapore Premier League * RoboCup Standard Platform League, matches between autonomous robots Computing Program ...
, Ross County would only have qualified had they won the final. Since Dundee United won, the remaining Europa League spot was allocated to
Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...
, who finished fifth in the SPL.


Team news and build-up

It was confirmed on 11 April 2010, that Dundee United's Paul Dixon would miss the final after he sustained a broken foot in the semi-final win over
Raith Rovers Raith Rovers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the town of Kirkcaldy, Fife. The club was founded in 1883 and currently competes in the Scottish Championship as a member of the Scottish Professional Football Leag ...
. Dundee United's Darren Dods also missed the final after being ruled out with a cartilage injury. Dundee United manager
Peter Houston Peter Houston (born 19 July 1958) is a Scottish football player and manager who is currently assistant manager of the Scotland under-21 side. Houston played as a striker for Airdrieonians, Livingston United, Albion Rovers, Falkirk, Dumbart ...
let former captain
Lee Wilkie Lee Wilkie (born 20 April 1980) is a Scottish former footballer, who played as a central defender. Wilkie spent the majority of his career in Dundee, playing for both Dundee and Dundee United. Wilkie started his career with Dundee, making over ...
lead the team out for final. The defender was forced to retire at the age of 29 earlier in the season after being plagued by knee problems. On 5 May 2010, Ross County announced that they had abandoned plans for a training camp in
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...
because of the latest
volcanic ash cloud Volcanic ash consists of fragments of rock, mineral crystals, and volcanic glass, created during volcanic eruptions and measuring less than 2 mm (0.079 inches) in diameter. The term volcanic ash is also often loosely used to refer t ...
. They were due to fly from Glasgow but, with airport closures and the expected traveller backlog, the club decided to stay in Scotland and prepare for the final.


Match


Summary

Dundee United dominated the match, but for an hour were unable to make a breakthrough, with interventions from Ross County defender Alex Keddie twice rescuing his side when United had goal scoring opportunities in the first half. United finally scored on 61 minutes when
David Goodwillie David Goodwillie (born 28 March 1989) is a Scottish professional football player. Goodwillie came through the Dundee United youth system and he won the SPFA and SFWA Young Player of the Year awards for the 2010–11 season. His performance ...
picked up a clearance from County's Goalkeeper Michael McGovern and lobbed the ball over him and into the goal from 25 yards out. Craig Conway then scored twice in the final quarter of the match to ensure United's second Scottish Cup win.


Details


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scottish Cup Final 2010
2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
Cup Final Dundee United F.C. matches Ross County F.C. matches Scottish Cup 2010s in Glasgow May 2010 sports events in the United Kingdom