Raith Rovers 0
Dundee Utd 2
Scottish Cup (Semi Final)

Match Report

On the back of a 1-0 win on league duty in Perth, Dundee United traveled to Hampden looking to book their place in the Scottish Cup Final. Ross County had pulled off one of the greatest cup upsets of all time the previous day: knocking out favourites Celtic in the first of the weekend's semi-finals. United now knew that they only had to defeat two lower league sides to win their first trophy since 1994. Peter Houston made two changes to his side from the win away to St Johnstone: Keith Watson dropped to the bench with Garry Kenneth dropping out of the squad altogether. In their places came Darren Dods and Prince Buaben.

The opening ten minutes saw both teams struggle to settle in the Hampden sunshine. Any thoughts of the First Division team’s legs turning to jelly on the big stage were quickly discounted as the Kirkcaldy side took the game to United and were first to threaten. A 10th minute corner was swung in dangerously by Allan Walker, forcing Pernis in to the punch to clear. A minute later, Walker found himself one-on-one with the United keeper but Pernis did well to block. United were dealt a blow after only 15 minutes as full-back Paul Dixon limped off to be replaced by Keith Watson. In was nearly a nightmare start for Watson a minute later as his short backpass forced Pernis into a last ditch clearance with Jamie Mole bearing down on him. Raith continued to pressurise but United took the lead against the run of play on 27 minutes. A long clearance was knocked down beautifully by Goodwillie into the path of Danny Swanson. Swanson took a touch before feeding a delightful slide rule pass into the run of David Goodwillie. He chose to go round keeper David McGurn before slotting the ball into the net despite the best efforts of the defender on the line. Six minutes later, Goodwillie was denied a second. Dogged work by Craig Conway down the left allowed the winger to play in Goodwillie and, as he made to pull the trigger, Raith captain Iain Davidson was there to poke the ball behind for the corner. From the resultant set-piece, Jon Daly directed a header towards the back post where Andy Webster got a touch but could only put it over the bar. Raith were doing well in neutralising the threat of Buaben and Gomis in the middle but Swanson and Conway were finding a bit more space and neat interplay between Swanson and Daly set up the big striker with a great chance on 40 minutes but he leaned back slightly on his shot from ten yards and the ball went well over the bar. Raith rallied late in the half but United went in with a slightly fortunate 1-0 lead at half-time.

United started better in the second half and had a decent shout at a penalty two minutes in. A long ball through the middle from Sean Dillon was latched onto by Daly. As he attempted to flick the ball over Douglas Hill to make room for the shot, the ball appeared to strike the Raith player’s hand but referee Craig Thomson waved played on and the ball was cleared. The game was beginning to become more open in the second period and eight minutes later, a superb run down the right by Watson saw the young defender play a tantalising low ball across the box. With Jon Daly arriving in the penalty area, Thierry Gathuessi prevented his side going two down with a saving challenge just yards from the goal-line. Raith’s relief was short-lived though as two minutes later United did double the lead. After keeper McGurn failed to deal with a Dillon cross, the resultant Conway corner was confidently headed home by stooping captain Andy Webster. United were now pressing to kill the game off but nearly had a wake-up call on 62 minutes when Raith carved out their best chance of the game so far. After Morgaro Gomis gave away a soft free kick in the edge of the box, Walker flighted the resultant set-piece into the box where Stephen Simmons rose highest to put a header just over the bar at the far post. With 15 minutes to go, Prince Buaben fired a shot over the bar after Goodwillie had tried to wriggle past three Raith defenders without success as United probed for the sucker punch. Five minutes later Simmons forced Dusan Pernis into saving low down at his left-hand post from his deflected shot. Both managers elected to use all their subs on an energy-sapping afternoon as Jennison Myrie-Williams entered the fray alongside Danny Cadamarteri for Swanson and Goodwillie respectively. Cadamarteri looked lively up front as he desperately sought a semi-final goal but his team-mates had already done enough to put United into their first Scottish Cup final since 2005.