Jamie holds his hands up as he rues fatal error
ONLY those with a granite heart could not have felt for Jamie MacDonald. A third Scottish Cup Final for a third different club only served to unwrap a whole new depth of disappointment. Three years ago, the goalkeeper walked away from Hampden as a never-to-be-forgotten winner after helping Hearts record their historic 5-1 thumping of Hibernian. The contrast in emotion could not have been greater with Saturday. MacDonald was on the losing side with Queen of the South against Rangers in 2008, but this time the anguish was that bit more personal. Falkirk had equalised against 10-man Inverness CT — and were looking favourites for victory — when MacDonald couldn’t deal with a weak shot from Marley Watkins after the winger had broken upfield. Stranded, he looked on in despair as James Vincent followed up to score what proved the 86th-minute winner. Team-mates were quick to rally round MacDonald, insisting they only made the Final thanks to his outstanding personal display against Hibs last month. That, though, was little consolation. ‘I would much rather have been terrible in every round and walked away with a winners’ medal than the runners-up,’ he said. ‘I’m totally gutted. The boys didn’t deserve that and I have to hold my hands up and take a bit of responsibility for that. ‘He (Watkins) has tried to put it into the back post and he’s maybe not hit it as well as he could have. ‘It’s almost a slow ball, I’ve saved it, I felt I had it under control, my trailing hand’s come over and knocked it wide and Vincent’s put it in.’ This could also amount to a heartbreaking farewell to Falkirk for MacDonald, as he has to decide whether to accept a contract offer to stay or opt for rival interest from Premiership clubs. ‘My thoughts were — get the Cup Final out of the way then I will look at it, if I stay here or I move on,’ he told BBC Scotland. ‘I’ll deal with that on Monday or Tuesday.’ Midfielder Tom Taiwo exonerated MacDonald, saying there was a collective failing in allowing Watkins to advance into a position to shoot. ‘You win as a team and lose as a team,’ said Taiwo. ‘Jamie didn’t take any of the accolades personally when we beat Hibs in the semi. He was very much focusing on the team effort. So we will focus on the team effort again this time and it was a team mistake which cost us the win. ‘When you look at their winning goal, I think it was a difficult one to deal with for Jamie. It bounced up high in front of him. ‘He is obviously disappointed but for every goal, there are four, five or six mistakes you can track back. It has come from a ball into their box, so you can see we haven’t dealt with it after that as a midfield unit or as a back four. ‘You can’t lay the blame at Jamie’s door, especially when he’s been as superb as he has been for us this season.’ Falkirk dominated the second half at Hampden, even before Carl Tremarco’s dismissal. ‘The sending-off obviously helped us and then we got the goal,’ said Taiwo, reflecting on Peter Grant’s header that cancelled out a Watkins opener. ‘I’ve never felt so in control of a game as a unit. ‘Distraught sounds quite strong, but the boys are feeling that way. The way the game panned out, it was an unbelievable chance for us to go on and record an historic win. ‘I said before the game that if we could come off the pitch, look ourselves in the mirror and say we had given everything we’ve got and given a good account of ourselves, then you can kind of accept losing. ‘But, right now, I have to say it doesn’t feel any better even when you look at it that way.’ Manager Peter Houston gathered all his players and staff on the Hampden touchline for a post-match huddle before they collected their runners-up medals. ‘He told us to use this disappointment to push on next season,’ said Taiwo. ‘He told us to remember it the next time we get into such a crucial match. ‘More than anything, he said he was so proud of us. Looking back now, you can be proud of the performance. ‘We more than matched the team which finished third in the Premiership and it shows that when we go on to push for promotion next season, we know we can do it.’