| Event | 2004–05 Scottish Cup | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Date | 28 May 2005 | ||||||
| Venue | Hampden Park,Glasgow | ||||||
| Man of the Match | Craig Bellamy | ||||||
| Referee | John Rowbotham | ||||||
| Attendance | 50,635 | ||||||
←2004 2006 → | |||||||
The2005Scottish Cup Final was played on 28 May 2005 atHampden Park inGlasgow and was the final of the 120th Scottish Cup. The final was contested byCeltic andDundee United. Celtic won the match with an eleventh-minute goal fromAlan Thompson.
Dundee United had had a difficult season and had dismissed managerIan McCall in March with the club facing being relegated from theScottish Premier League, appointing his assistantGordon Chisholm as his replacement, initially on an interim basis.[1] A week before the Scottish Cup final United went into their final league match againstInverness Caledonian Thistle knowing they needed a point to ensure they avoided relegation. Ultimately they avoided this fate, beating Inverness 1–0, while city rivalsDundee lost their match and were relegated.[2]
By contrast Celtic had gone into the final day of the league season as league leaders. With minutes to go Celtic looked set to be champions as they were leadingMotherwell 1–0. However two late goals by Motherwell'sScott McDonald led to defeat for Celtic, which meant their arch-rivalsRangers emerged as champions.[3] The final would be the last match in charge of Celtic for managerMartin O'Neill who had announced he would be leaving the club at the end of the season.[4]
| Celtic | Round | Dundee United | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home team | Score | Away team | Celtic scorer(s) | Home team | Score | Away team | Dundee United scorer(s) | |
| Celtic | 2–1 | Rangers | Sutton Hartson | Round Three[5] | Gretna | 3–4 | Dundee United | Robson Kerr Wilson Crawford |
| Dunfermline Athletic | 0–3 | Celtic | Hartson Sutton | Round Four | Queen of the South | 0–3 | Dundee United | McIntyre Wilson |
| Clyde | 0–5 | Celtic | Varga Thompson Petrov Bellamy | Quarter-finals | Dundee United | 4–1 | Aberdeen | Archibald Grady Crawford |
| Hearts | 1–2 | Celtic | Sutton Bellamy | Semi-finals | Dundee United | 2–1 | Hibernian | McIntyre Scotland |
The match was decided after 11 minutes whenAlan Thompson scored the only goal of the game from a free-kick which deflected off United defenderGarry Kenneth. United had a chance to equalise shortly afterwards when aJason Scotland cross was narrowly missed byStevie Crawford. Thereafter Celtic dominated much of the match, but failed to add to their total. Celtic's best chance came when they were awarded a penalty, butChris Sutton put the spot-kick over the bar. At the very end of the match United'sAlan Archibald came close to equalising when his long range strike beat Celtic goalkeeperRab Douglas, but it rebounded off the crossbar and shortly afterwards the final whistle was blown.[4][6]
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