Five Great Scottish Cup Quarter-Finals

This weekend sees The Dons take on Kilmarnock in the Quarter-Finals of the Scottish Cup. Aberdeen have a long and great history with the oldest national trophy in the world, lifting it seven times and finishing runners up nine occasions. In last season’s showpiece event, The Dons fell short to Celtic in the final minute at Hampden and will be desperate to get back to the national stadium and go one further this time around.

The AFC Media Team have taken a look at some of the great Scottish Cup Quarter-Finals ahead of Saturday’s match at Pittodrie.

1. Celtic 1-2 Aberdeen: 14/3/1979

The Dons travelled down to Glasgow four days for the replay after holding Celtic to a 1-1 draw at Pittodrie. 36,000 witnessed Duncan Davidson and Steve Archibald put the hosts to the sword, who were managed by former Dons boss Billy McNeil. It was The Dons 2nd win in the cup at Celtic Park, but The Reds would go on to lose the Semi-Final to Hibernian the following month.

2. Aberdeen 4-2 Kilmarnock: 6/3/1982

First Division side Kilmarnock travelled to Pittodrie for the 1982 Quarter-Final as huge outsiders against an Aberdeen side that were competing for a domestic double. To the shock of just about everyone inside Pittodrie, Killie took the lead in the first minute. The Dons would battle back through two Gordon Strachan penalties and goals from Mark McGhee and Neil Simpson. That year was the first of an unprecedented three Scottish Cups in a row for Alex Ferguson’s men and victory that season helped pave the way for European Cup Winners Cup qualification for the following season.

3. Dundee United 0-1 Aberdeen: 28/3/1984

After a goalless draw at Pittodrie, The Dons made the trip to Tannadice for the replay. Backed by a strong following from Aberdeen, The Dons rewarded their supporters with an early goal after only two minutes. Mark McGhee raced in on goal to slot home and give Aberdeen the lead, which they defended for the next 88 minutes and held out to book another Semi-Final place. What was significant about this clash between “The New Firm” was it was Alex Ferguson’s first win against United in cup competition. The Dons would go on to defeat Celtic in the final, taking the trophy home for the third year running.

4. Aberdeen 4-1 Hearts: 17/3/1990

This date will go down as one of the most famous in Scottish sporting history as the national rugby team completed the Grand Slam, defeating England at Murrayfield. In the north-east that afternoon the attention was firmly on Pittodrie as Aberdeen took on Hearts for a place in the last four of The Scottish Cup. Jim Bett opened the scoring, but the hosts were pegged back by John Colquhoun before half time. The Dons then ran riot in the final 20 minutes and goals from Gillhaus, Irvine and Nicholas set up a Semi-Final against Dundee United. To date this is the last year The Dons lifted the trophy, seeing off Celtic 9-8 in the first-ever final to be decided by penalty kicks

5. Motherwell 1-2 Aberdeen: 11/3/2012

In terms of recent Scottish Cup Quarter-Finals go, this match is one of the most memorable. The match had everything. New Zealand striker, Rory Fallon opened the scoring for Aberdeen after four minutes with a header. Jason Brown was in The Dons goals that day and produced a fantastic stop from the penalty spot at 1-0 sending the Red Army wild behind his goal. Fallon made it 2-0 before half time through a fantastic volley. Motherwell went down to ten men in the second half after Keith Lasley caught Fraser Fyvie with a nasty lunge. The hosts continued to look for a way back into the game and Nicky Law scored with ten minutes left to set up a grandstand finale. The Dons held on though and claimed an excellent win. Fallon would score an even more stunning volley in the Semi-Final, but Hibernian would end extinguish any hopes of a final appearance with a 2-1 win.

See the highlights of that game here

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