The 2005 Scottish Cup Final was played on 28 May 2005 at Hampden Park in Glasgow and was the final of the 120th Scottish Cup. The final was contested by Celtic and Dundee United. Celtic won the match with an eleventh-minute goal from Alan Thompson.
Background Dundee United had had a difficult season and had dismissed manager Ian McCall in March with the club facing being relegated from the Scottish Premier League, appointing his assistant Gordon Chisholm as his replacement, initially on an interim basis. A week before the Scottish Cup final United went into their final league match against Inverness Caledonian Thistle knowing they needed a point to ensure they avoided relegation. Ultimately they avoided this fate, beating Inverness 1–0, while city rivals Dundee lost their match and were relegated.
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 leading Motherwell 1–0. However two late goals by Motherwell's Scott McDonald led to defeat for Celtic, which meant their arch-rivals Rangers emerged as champions. The final would be the last match in charge of Celtic for manager Martin O'Neill who had announced he would be leaving the club at the end of the season.
Road to the final CelticRoundDundee UnitedHome team Score Away team Celtic scorer(s)Home team Score Away team Dundee United scorer(s)Celtic2–1RangersSutton Hartson Round ThreeSPL teams received a bye to the third round.Gretna3–4Dundee UnitedRobson Kerr Wilson Crawford Dunfermline Athletic0–3CelticHartson Sutton Round FourQueen of the South0–3Dundee UnitedMcIntyre Wilson Clyde0–5CelticVarga Thompson Petrov Bellamy Quarter-finalsDundee United4–1AberdeenArchibald Grady Crawford Hearts1–2CelticSutton Bellamy Semi-finalsDundee United2–1HibernianMcIntyre Scotland
Match
Summary The match was decided after 11 minutes when Alan Thompson scored the only goal of the game from a free-kick which deflected off United defender Garry Kenneth. United had a chance to equalise shortly afterwards when a Jason Scotland cross was narrowly missed by Stevie 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, but Chris Sutton put the spot-kick over the bar. At the very end of the match United's Alan Archibald came close to equalising when his long range strike beat Celtic goalkeeper Rab Douglas, but it rebounded off the crossbar and shortly afterwards the final whistle was blown.
Match details
CELTIC: GK 20 Rab DouglasDF 17 Didier AgatheDF 6 Bobo BaldéDF 23 Stanislav Varga DF 4 Jackie McNamara (c) MF 19 Stiliyan PetrovMF 18 Neil LennonMF 8 Alan Thompson FW 9 Chris SuttonFW 47 Craig BellamyFW 10 John Hartson Substitutes:GK 22 David MarshallDF 5 Joos Valgaeren MF 14 Paul LambertMF 46 Aiden McGeady FW 37 Craig BeattieManager: Martin O'NeillDUNDEE UNITED: GK 1 Tony BullockDF 2 Mark WilsonDF 23 Paul Ritchie DF 39 Garry KennethDF 5 Alan Archibald MF 7 Mark KerrMF 4 Derek McInnes (c) MF 8 Grant Brebner MF 11 Barry Robson CF 19 Stephen Crawford CF 20 Jason ScotlandSubstitutes:GK 47 Nick ColganDF 3 David McCrackenMF 12 Stuart Duff FW 16 James Grady FW 9 Collin Samuel Manager: Gordon Chisholm
References
External links Celtic vs Dundee United