JAG IN TOUCHING DISTANCE

BROOKS MILESON has told me there's a Jaguar XKR on its way if I score the winning goal in the Scottish Cup Final.

It's an amazing gesture because the car is apparently worth the best part of £80,000.

But a Scottish Cup winner's medal is priceless and I don't care who finds the net as long as we see off Hearts at Hampden this afternoon.

I don't think Brooks ever thought I'd come close to landing his wonderful incentive because the challenge was laid down before we'd even played the quarter-final.

Amazingly, I popped into a motor show at Braehead a few weeks ago and the XKR was the showpiece car.

I looked in the window but I dared not tempt fate by sitting inside or even touching the vehicle.

Bizarrely, my only previous experience of the XKR was hauling one out of the snow earlier this year when my mate got his stuck.

My pal Colin Dennis owned one of the older models and parked it outside the house while we hit the town.

It snowed overnight and by the time we came to move it the following day it was stuck fast.

It's a rear-wheel drive so we had to pack some timber under the tyre treads and give it a good shove before it would finally move.

If you're reading this Brooks, I hope the car you've got on order handles the conditions much better!

Colin now owns a Bentley and I can't help but think he bought it to get one up on me if I do manage to find a way past Steven Pressley and Co for the decisive goal.

It has been the most amazing week and now the hard work and preparations are out of the way we can't wait for the game to start.

We trained at Lesser Hampden yesterday and Chris Innes and I sneaked away at the end of the session for a look at the pitch in the National Stadium.

The groundsman was out giving the grass a final cut before the big day and it looked absolutely immaculate.

Even more good-luck messages have arrived in the last 24 hours and it was great to read Record Sport had been in touch with Jeff Stelling of Sky Sports for an interview. He's the best in the business and although he won't be hosting a show today he can rest assured my granny May will be sitting at home watching the action with a glass of orange juice, cheering on her boy.

She's had to give her Gretna scarf to my dad, who'll be at the game today with mum, because he sent his out to the town of Gretna in the States for some pre-cup final publicity.

If you're reading this mid-morning I'll probably still be in my bed because my pre-match ritual is an early rise, a bowl of cereal, then back under the covers for a couple of hours extra kip.

The police escort will be waiting after lunchtime to whisk us away to Hampden, as it did before the semifinal tie with Dundee.

The streets around the National Stadium were all but empty that day. I've a funny feeling it's all going to be very different tomorrow.

Taken from the Daily Record