It still feels just like yesterday

Cup dream will never be over for Smith

Alex Smith doesn’t care if he sounds like a broken record 30 years on – the former St Mirren manager will never tire of talking about that fateful day at Hampden. Smith was the mastermind behind the side’s triumph having taken the reins from Alex Miller in December 1986, inheriting a side with little to play for on the league front. After an early decision to target the Scottish Cup following a chat with his assistant manager Jimmy Bone, the duo successfully navigated the side all the way to the final. The target now was to bring the trophy home – but not before he swapped the training pitch for the record studio for a right good sing-song. Smith and his players were forced into dusting down their singing voices to record a commemorative song in the run-up the clash with Dundee United. “Paisley was the town in a whirlwind, you couldn’t escape the anticipation,” Smith recalls.

“I could never get sick of talking about it. The scary thing is it feels like yesterday. Every time someone mentions it, it just keeps flooding back.

“Most people were writing us off, after all United were in the UEFA Cup final, but the build up in the town itself was incredible.

“The bakeries were full of black and white cakes, people were making big silly hats, the whole town was going daft.

“They asked the whole team to go down to a studio and produce a cup final record. The boys didn’t have a singing voice between them.

“We were singing Oh When the Saints, but between every line we each had to say something. I’ll never forget Paul Lambert – he was just a laddie at the time – saying ‘be there or be square’ — it was hilarious and we all had a right good laugh. It got into the spirit of things but I don’t think we were ever going to trouble the top of the charts.”

Smith rebuffed any accusations that the game itself wasn’t one for the purists – though admitted it wasn’t always easy on the eye. Set up to frustrate a highflying Dundee United, Smith credits the side for sticking to their gameplan throughout. in the competition up until the final, with his first run-out coming in the week before the final at Ibrox.

For Fitzpatrick it was a relief to even be involved in the game, but he says that the day itself is something that he will cherish forever.

He added:“The memory that sticks out is the final whistle.

“It was a really struggle for me to get to the cup final so it was great to make it.

Smith said: “I think the label of it being a boring one is unfair to the guys that played that day.

“We knew we had to not allow United to score, but with the entertaining players we had we knew we were well placed to beat them the longer we kept it tight.”

Ian Ferguson’s winner remains the last time St Mirren scored in a Scottish Cup final and Smith admits he is glad the ball made its way through to the Saints hitman.

“Only a player like Ian Ferguson could have scored a goal like that,” Smith added, “He was the only one who would have taken the ball on his head and hit it in front of him.

“Once he got a yard on John Clark everyone just held their breath, and he just smashed the ball like he hated it, like he never wanted to see it again.

“The quality of that finish is unbelievable but the funny thing is he very rarely scored with his left foot. He is a right-footed player but in actual fact, every goal he scored in that cup run was with his left, and he scored in every round.

“It wasn’t like it was an open goal, he was up against a top quality goalkeeper in Billy Thomson. It was special.”

“My big memory after the game was coming in to my family, spending the time with them. We then went on the team bus. I remember driving through Barrhead and then Paisley and the scenes were unbelievable. You really felt this meant something to people.

“Standing out on the balcony at the town hall was sensational that night. You couldn’t see anywhere, it was just bodies up trees, lamposts – the lot.