The first touch is the sweetest
JAMBOREE 20 YEARS SINCE GLORY GAME
COLIN CAMERON recalls Scottish Cup glory with Hearts in 1998 as the day he had nothing left to give.
It’s exactly two decades since the midfielder fired a penalty past Andy Goram with his first kick of the game en route to a 2-1 win over Rangers.
A first major trophy at Tynecastle for 36 years was secured and the Jambos hero has total recall of one of the club’s most famous days.
He said: “It’s hard to believe it has been 20 years and just as unbelievable is the fact I managed to score.
“I was always confident about taking penalties and I didn’t miss too many.
“But this one was different. We were awarded it so early on and everyone was so focused and pumped up.
“My adrenaline was pumping and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous.
“I was just glad it was the second BY GORDON PARKS g.parks@dailyrecord.co.uk minute and not the second-last minute with the game locked at 0-0.
“It was my first touch of the ball which isn’t easy, it hadn’t happened before or since, and it was also against Goram.
“I committed the biggest sin with penalties that day as I changed my mind about where I would put the ball as I began my run-up.
“I suddenly realised Goram would know where I normally place my penalties so at the last minute I opened my foot up and stuck it in the opposite corner from usual.”
Stephane Adam’s strike added to the early lead before a late Ally McCoist goal made for a last few minutes which had Cameron running on empty.
He said: “We knew until the final whistle it was all in the balance. Even when Stephane scored to make it 2-0 just after half-time, all we had was a cushion. We had set our stall out all week in training.
“We decided to change tack as we had been challenging all year in the league and we believed we could go toe to toe with both Celtic and Rangers but it hadn’t been working out in the league late on.
“For this game we decided to sit back, soak up pressure and try to hit them on the break.
“It worked perfectly in terms of getting the goal so early as it meant we didn’t have to change anything. “This was a quality Rangers side and we knew they would come at us. They brought McCoist on at half-time and the pressure intensified when he pulled one back with nine minutes to go.
“We had put so much into it and we were all getting tired.
“If I’m being honest, if Rangers had managed to take the game into extra time then it would have been curtains as I had nothing left to give. “Even in the five minutes of injury-time I had gone, it felt like a lot more than that.”