Hero ex-Raith Rovers goalie hails Jimmy Nicholl's 'key' approach to famous cup final win over Celtic 30 years ago

Thomson, 58, who saved from Celtic’s Paul McStay to win the showpiece 6-5 on penalties following a 2-2 draw after extra-time, said: “We were quite calm going into the game, which was the biggest thing for us about the whole weekend.

"Jimmy Nicholl was good to work for because he demanded a lot – he was still playing at the time – so he was setting a lot of standards that way.

"In the games he didn’t play, you knew if he was on the touchline you had to go and perform. He was a good man manager.

"Jimmy was always wanting to have us relaxed so he would take us away. The amount of trips we had was unbelievable.

"He let us have a bit of rope but when you get a bit of rope you can always hang yourself with it so you had to be careful!

"The first premier league season we had he took us away to Majorca just before Christmas. It was good for team morale, team building and bonding for the boys. We were quite a tight group.

"Before that cup final we went away for a couple of days down to Dumbarton. We had a low key training session on the Friday; Saturday we worked on setplays then went to Ibrox, had a walk around the pitch, got onto the pitch and got a flavour of it that way.

"Then the Saturday night was pretty chilled, the boys were just playing cards and hanging out.

"Celtic were so expected to win because they hadn’t won something for a little while as I recall.

"We probably used that as a little motivation. The pressure was all on them and didn’t want to go there and enjoy the occasion because deep down we felt we had a chance to do something.

"We had beaten three premier league teams along the way to get there so it wasn’t outwith our grasp.”