How Raith Rovers keeper Scott Thomson earned historic cup win by saving from Celtic's Paul McStay 30 years ago

Leading 1-0 early on through Stevie Crawford before going 2-1 down with just six minutes left when Celtic’s Charlie Nicholas added to Andy Walker’s 32nd-minute equaliser, Jimmy Nicholl’s shock troops sensationally levelled just two minutes later when Gordon Dalziel headed in after Jason Dair’s original shot had been fumbled by Hoops keeper Gordon Marshall.

And, recounting the subsequent shootout, which gave Raith the only League Cup win in the club’s history, Thomson, 58, current goalkeeping coach of Premiership outfit Ross County, told the Fife Free Press: “The first two or three guys in a shootout are always recognised penalty takers and they feel quite confident.

"When it got to 5-5 onwards, it’s people who don’t really want to be there.

"I think the fact that Paul McStay, being the captain, was the sixth one, suggested that penalty kicks weren’t his forte.

"To be honest at that stage you’re just looking to make a save. I wasn’t thinking: ‘This is Paul McStay against me’ or anything like that, I was just thinking: ‘Right, what’s the chance of him doing this?’

"Generally I had a wee inkling that if you’re not confident on your right foot you tend to go to the goalkeeper’s right because you tend to caress it a little bit more rather than open up and ping it the other way.

"For me personally it was a great moment. But actually playing in the game – we were something like fifth in the first division when that match was played after not having a great start to the season – was just as good and just a great experience. Saving the penalty was my job and it was a brilliant day.

"We got a lot of backing from a lot of people that day, it was crazy. The fact that final was at Ibrox, I think it turned the Rangers supporters to being well with us as well!

"Winning that game was a great feeling and qualified us for Europe as well. That was the icing on the cake.”

Raith’s six penalty scorers in the showpiece three decades ago were Shaun Dennis, Dair, current Rovers assistant manager Colin Cameron, Crawford, Stephen McAnespie and Jason Rowbotham.

Although Thomson admitted that he “never got close” to Celtic’s first four penalties – by Willie Falconer, John Collins, Walker and Paul Byrne – he admitted he should have stopped the next one by Mike Galloway.

He added: “I never got quite a strong enough hand on it and it went in. I decided I was going to go right for the first four penalties – I thought somebody was going to go right – but it never quite came off.

"Also, if I got the ball I used to keep it as long as I could, because it was a long walk from the halfway line for the taker.

"Then as they were waiting to take the penalty I threw it back to them, so the ball had a bit of height on it and they had to look at it coming down. It was probably a lot of rubbish but in my mind it might have unsettled them!”

Another main memory from the final win for Thomson is Dalziel’s late leveller in normal time.

On that, the man who also won the first division title with Raith during over 100 appearances between 1993 and ’97, added: “Daz’s header seemed to be in slow motion because I think he took most of the pace out the ball when big Marsh parried it.

"Daz had to generate as much power as possible just to get it over the line. It was a good striker’s finish, he was in the right place at the right time and read the situation.

"That was a magic moment because I ended up doing a massive knee slide somewhere around the 18-yard box when there was nobody there!

"They always say in the closing moments of a game, if you’re chasing something you’ll always get an opportunity.

"I couldn’t believe we were actually 2-1 down because we’d played reasonably well second half, withstanding a lot of pressure and keeping in the game.

"For them to score late on was a bit of a sickener and as soon as we took the centre again I just kept thinking: ‘Give us one chance’.

"After an even first period of extra-time, I thought in the second period we looked the better team.

"They looked as if they were maybe running out of legs a bit. Then it got to that last three or four minutes and I think both teams settled for penalties."