TAKING THAT KICK WAS SPOT SCARY

GRETNA penalty hero Ryan McGuffie admitted his bottle nearly crashed as he faced up to Scotland No.1 Craig Gordon from the spot.

The midfielder grabbed the equaliser that took the Final to extra time when he forced in the rebound after the Hearts keeper couldn't hold his shot.

But McGuffie said: "I was sh*tting myself. I tried a bit of reverse psychology as good keepers study penalties and I'm sure Craig had seen the one I took against Dundee in the semi-final .

"I thought he would go the opposite way so I stuck to what I'm good at and hit the target but he made a good save.

"I felt confident of scoring even when I saw him going the right way although I knew it was going to be close.

"Luckily Craig palmed it back out to me. It was a massive relief to hit the back of the net. David Graham rugby-tackled me and it was bedlam as everybody jumped on top of me. The celebrations were just wild.

"I was scheduled to take the fifth kick in the shoot- out but it didn't get that far. It was gutting to lose in the manner we did but we got to the Cup Final, won the league and got into Europe and life doesn't get any better than that.

"We did ourselves justice and our performance will make teams sit up and take notice. We have arrived in Scottish football."

Taken from the Daily Record