Colin Cameron exclusive: 'I felt no nerves scoring penalty for Hearts with my first kick of the ball in 1998 Scottish Cup final against Rangers'

Just two minutes were on the clock in the season finale at Celtic Park when Cameron slotted home a penalty – awarded by referee Willie Young for Ian Ferguson’s foul on Steve Fulton after only 30 seconds – against a star-studded Rangers side who had gone into the match as hot favourites in front of a 49,000 crowd but ultimately lost 2-1 to Cameron’s side.

This fantastic success gave Cameron, now 50, the second major cup honour of his career having previously won the Coca Cola Cup with Raith Rovers in 1994, when he scored in a shock 6-5 penalty shootout final success over Celtic at Ibrox Stadium following a 2-2 draw after extra time.

The man nicknamed ‘Mickey’, who is Kirkcaldy born and bred, served his home town club between 1990 and ’96, scoring 32 times in 152 appearances. Then followed his five-year spell at the Jambos, during which time he netted 48 goals in 157 appearances before joining Wolves in 2001.

Cameron told the Fife Free Press: "I didn’t feel any nerves taking that penalty.

“It sounds a wee bit silly, like it’s easy to say now that it’s happened and gone in.

"But it was right at the start of the game, we were all pumped up, we were totally focused on what we were going to do.

"We decided to change the game plan a little bit and instead of us trying to go toe to toe with Rangers, we were going to try and soak up pressure and hit them on the break.

"So to get the penalty straight from kick-off – I hadn’t even touched the ball – the adrenaline was still pumping and I always say: ‘Never change your mind when you take a penalty, just be committed and put it where you’re going to’.

"But that was probably the only time that I did change my mind and I’m thankful for it because I just had a feeling in the run up that Andy Goram (Rangers goalkeeper) the type of guy that he was, would have probably studied my penalties before it and I normally put it to the keeper’s right.

"At the last moment I just opened my foot up and put it the opposite way and Goram went the way I would normally have put it.

"Whether he would have saved it if I’d put it that way I’m not sure, but I’m glad I never took the chance and I just decided to change it.

"How often do you go to Glasgow and get a penalty against either side of the Old Firm?

"That early goal meant we didn’t have to change our game plan and we had a goal lead.

"Then into the second half there was a long kick from big Gilles (Hearts goalkeeper Gilles Rousset) and Stephane Adam, who was always on his toes and really, really sharp, gambled on Amoruso (Rangers defender Lorenzo Amoruso) misjudging the ball.

"He got in and managed to score from a tight angle. It was probably the pace and dip on it that’s beaten Goram.

"We knew we needed that second goal because the quality that Rangers had coming into it was great.

"Obviously McCoist (legendary Rangers striker Ally McCoist) came off the bench and sniffed out a goal and then we were kind of hanging on for the last 10 minutes.”

Cameron revealed that Hearts were then mightily relieved not to concede a penalty with five minutes remaining, when McCoist went down under a challenge from David Weir but whistler Young surprisingly awarded a free-kick when replays later appeared to show the foul was inside the 18-yard box.

"Rangers ended up getting a free-kick right on the edge of the box,” Cameron said.

"I think if VAR had been around a penalty might have been given.

"We had our hearts in our mouths because I certainly thought the referee was going to give a penalty.

"Initially it did look as if he was giving a penalty but he was actually pointing to the edge of the box.

“The other thing that day was that big Jorg Albertz (legendary German who scored many a brilliant free-kick for Rangers) missed the game, I think through suspension.

"Thankfully he wasn’t there because a free-kick like that in that area was his bread and butter. It didn’t lead to anything and we were able to hold on.”

Despite being heavy underdogs to beat Walter Smith’s Glasgow giants that famous day 25 years ago, Cameron said he and his Hearts team-mates – who also finished third in the league behind the Old Firm that season under manager Jim Jefferies and his assistant Billy Brown - went in with confidence.

He said: "The season before we had played Rangers in the league cup final and we ended up losing that one 4-3.

"But that was the game that really turned it for us and gave us the belief that we could go toe to toe with Rangers and Celtic and on any given day we could beat them.

"So going into that Scottish Cup final we were confident, with the potential that we could beat Rangers. We had also run both Rangers and Celtic close in the league that season.

"We had a right good team. Boys that if you look at them, after leaving Hearts a lot of us ended up going down south playing in the Premiership.

"You wonder what we could have done if Jim and Billy had kept everybody together. But that’s not how football works unfortunately.”