MacDONALD IS HUNGRY TO BE A CUP HERO AFTER PAINFUL PAST

SEVEN years felt like a long time without a cup final for one so spoiled as Jamie MacDonald.

The Raith Rovers goalkeeper contested four such showpiece matches with three different clubs between 2008 and 2015.

The 35-year-old hasn’t competed for silverware since but has the SPFL Trust Trophy in his sights today against Queen of the South.

The extended absence from the big stage has been hard to stomach because of MacDonald’s errant contribution to his most recent runners-up role.

With Falkirk at Hampden, he spilled a Marley Watkins shot for James Vincent to score and win the Scottish Cup for Inverness.

‘I’d be lying if I said it didn’t eat away at me,’ admitted MacDonald (below). ‘The Falkirk one was my fault with a shot I didn’t manage to keep and they put the rebound in.

‘But you can’t look back like that all your life, you have to move on. And you have to be appreciative of the fact you’ve been there.’

MacDonald’s first taste of cup final action came with today’s rivals Queens at the age of 22.

On loan from Tynecastle, he rounded off a fine spell in Dumfries by giving UEFA Cup final runnersup Rangers a huge fright before losing 3-2 in 2008. That was also the result when, established as Hearts No 1, he tasted a bitter defeat in the League Cup final of 2013 to Danny Lennon’s St Mirren. Sandwiched in between was the outstanding highlight — the famous 5-1 trashing of Hibernian in 2012 with Paulo Sergio. MacDonald said: ‘After four finals in seven years you maybe take it for granted a bit. I’ve had to wait seven years for the next one so you realise how difficult it is to make it there. Cup finals are normally few and far between if you’re not playing for the Old Firm. Hearts v Hibs speaks for itself as a day I’ll always remember.

‘But with Queens, we were two down then brought it back to 2-2 before Kris Boyd won it late for Rangers.

‘And I’ll still never know how we lost to St Mirren.’