Checked the DFC website and it says its pay at gate. Despite being just an hour up the road this will be the first time I've been to Dens, what a huge day for all involved.

It is indeed pay at the gate, but given the level of excitement it seems to be generating, as well as the number of neutrals / Dundee United fans who are talking about coming along I wonder if they may have underestimated the crowd a bit. Get there early, I think.

And if you're going in the Rovers end, wear red if possible.

Dens is alright, I used to think it was a right hole, but it's actually one of the few grounds that's been improved as a result of becoming all-seater, they got rid of the greyhound track around the pitch and made it tighter. The away end is on the east side - if you were planning to go in with the home support I'd go for the Derry (South Stand) rather than behind the goal. Don't use the catering facilities unless you've taken out a bank loan for the occasion.

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to it though the odds are against us. Craig Wilson has now broken his arm and is out for the season, but at least Grant Murray is available once we'd sorted out the SFA's initial attempt to pretend he was suspended.

Hope the Rovers can do it today, looking at the mobile defensive partnership of Lauchlan and MacKenzie should give them some hope, anyone with a pulse has got a good chance of getting past them.

I'm going to wear one black converse and one navy to mark the occasion, I'm not long away from being one of those fools the newspapers do a feature on but in this case I'm probably a proper neutral.

1. It will be good if Leigh Griffiths scores, making a new blog post likely.

2. It will be great if Rovers win, as much as I find sitting amongst their fans a bit annoying (Dunfermline is not that bad a place!)

Containing Harkins is definitely the key. Should be a great game, hopefully.

It was a great game, well deserved win for Rovers. Gatheussi in particular was outstanding but as usual McGurn, Tadé, Murray, Weir, Walker even deserve credit, all round great performance.

Pretty shaky towards the end but it seemed (for the first half at least) like Dundee couldn't give a shit. Harkins wasn't up for it, Sean Higgins was pathetic, my dad joked when he ran off for to be substituted that that was the fastest he'd moved all day.

Leigh Griffiths is a good player but needs 3 touches to tee up a shot, not a great performance from him. Dundee need to seriously sort their defence out if they don't want to be mauled in the SPL. They'd be better having statues on wheels in defence than Jim Lauchlan.

Well done to Rovers, hope they get a favourable draw in the semis.

Well done to Raith,only 90 minutes away from a place in Europe. Watched the highlights on Sportscene( as an aside, it's great to see Scottish football on a Saturday night,especially as the cup ties all has something to offer)and it looked like they fully desreved the win. Yoss is receiving plenty of free pints offers over on pie and bovril for spotting Grant Murray's suspension.

In the SPL, another win for Granpa' Broon and Motherwell on the Fir Park sandpit. Takes us up to joint third(albeit having played two games more than Utd. and Hibs). Hearts were truly dreadful, the game was finsihed after the second goal at around 3.12 pm. Quite a few Hearts fans left at this point. Our next game is at Tannadice, need to avoid defeat to keep up any European aspirations.

Scottish Cup semi-final draw keeps Rangers (if they win their replay) apart from Celtic, who draw Hibs or Ross County instead.

There have been a lot fewer all-Old Firm finals than I'd assumed - only 4, in fact, since 1980, which was the one (if my memory serves me right) that Celtic won with a back-heeled goal?

It was a horribly deflected shot from Danny Mc Grain that went in off George McCluskey that won that game. The goal of course was pretty incidental when people look back on that match.

1980-The Riot Cup Final.

Ah,I see the old heated balls back in use again. Pretty useful draw for Motherwell. If both Cup finalists have already qualifird for Europe then the place goes to the 5th placed side in the SPl.

Doc Scranton wrote:
Pretty shaky towards the end
From one who was there: as shaky as a Haitian earthquake.

Nobody watching the game at Ibrox yesterday?

I took a very laidback approach to it. Partly cos I was celebrating my birthday til 3 am Sunday.

From my perspective horizontal on the sofa, the ref seemed to think it was Boyd's birthday, rather than mine.

Very satisfying to come back from 3-1 down after those decisions (the 1st penalty was maYBE 50-50, 'seen them given/not given' but the 2nd one was a joke).

My new housemate is a Terrors fan, and his bellow from across the house at 3-2 got me to watch the rest of the game. Which was good fun. Particularly given the 7-1 in the last game at Ibrox it was good that heads didn't drop at 3-1.

Indeed Felicity, replayed 20 times from 10 different angles and in slow motion you might get away with saying it was 50/50! You've got to be joking haven't you, how the fuck your goalie didn't walk only the ref and Celtic's PR machine know. Even the second was a penalty, soft maybe, but a penalty none the less.

Oh, and happy birthday.

Why didn't he send him off...?

Cos he made a genuine challenge for the ball.

And touched it. Which is why SOME refs wouldn't even have given that as a penalty.



Oh and what the fuck has Celtic's 'Pr machine' got to do with our match...?


PS-thanks for the b/day wishes, btw!

He might have made a genuine challenge for the ball but it was far from clear he touched it and without the benefit of replays it looked like a clear foul on Miller who was certainly in a goal scoring position (even for him). It was almost a textbook penalty and sending off.

The ref is the same one who has had to endure a fortnight of innuendo, veiled accusations of bias, incompetence and bigotry because he sent off a Celtic player but not a Rangers player recently. Personally I think he bottled it as the thought of another fortnight of accusations of bias flashed before his eyes.

I accept that with TV replays there is doubt but at the time, without replays, it looked an absolute certain penalty and as such the goalie should have been sent off.

Still with the form Raith Rovers are currently in neither of us are making the final anyway!

Felicity and AMMS make some decent points.

If Dougie McDonald was not such a terrible referee then he maybe wouldn't have to put up with perceived "innuendo, veiled accusations of bias, incompetence and bigotry (sic)". All that has been pointed out and as Sunday confirms is that he calls major decisions incorrectly on a constant basis.

He can only hide behind his old boys network for so long before the truth that he is not fit for purpose has to come out.

an absolute certain penalty and as such the goalie should have been sent off

Don't want to belabour* this, but you seem to assume that penalty = sending off. Surely 'genuine attempt to play the ball'/mistimed rather than cynical etc has to be taken into account?





(* 'old' belabour rather than 'new')

I don't think the rules take into account intent in that situation. If a foul denies a clear goal-scoring opportunity then (officially) it's a straight red. But it's hardly unusual in practice for a yellow to be given when the foul is inside the penalty area and not obviously cynical.

AMMS wrote:
Still with the form Raith Rovers are currently in neither of us are making the final anyway!

Indeed, imagine my delight that their next two games are against Dunfermline. Starting this evening.

Felicity, as Etienne says I understand that intention isn't important, denial of a clear goal scoring opportunity is a straight red card. Whether we agree with that or not is moot, the ref clearly thought he had fouled him or he wouldn't have given the penalty so he should have sent him off.

For the record Utd played well and I've no grievance with them getting a replay, they did well to come back from 3-1 down. My only gripe is the suggestion that somehow Rangers received beneficial treatment from the ref, I'd contest it was actually the opposite.
LoTW may have nailed this though, perhaps it is simply that McDonald just isn't very good.

Woot.

It may seem daft to get carried away about a single goal win over a team in the same division, but I thought we were great on Saturday. There are so many players in that squad at the moment who are working their bollocks off and showing a sense of commitment and loyalty - at least to the manager if not the club - beyond the call of duty. I know it's easy for fans to convince themselves of such things but I really do get that feeling about the club at the moment.

But I still have a vivid memory of the Pars beating us 5-2 a few days after our semi-final win back in '94, and seeing their fans walking down Pratt Street singing "You're gonna win fuck all". Don't want to take our eyes off the ball like that again, we've got a bit of a cushion in the league but can't afford a really bad run. And our heavy schedule of games in April includes something like six consecutive away games.

So I'm not much thinking about the semi-final at the moment. But for what it's worth I really hope it's against Dundee United - not because I think we have any better a chance of beating them, I'd just be able to enjoy the day out much more.