David Wotherspoon bagged a date with destiny when he joined Saints while dodging day of infamy by ditching Hibs

Gordon Waddell

28 Jul 2013 12:40

TWIST of fate sees St Johnstone midfielder David on the right side of history after midweek Euro drama.

DAVID Wotherspoon had the ultimate 'Sliding Doors' moment in football on Thursday.

Now instead of going down as one of the biggest losers of all time in the Scottish game's history books, he'll have the word legend next to his name forever.

The midfielder swapped Hibs for hometown team St Johnstone in the summer.

And that move will forever be vindicated by a single 90 minutes of European football that will go down in notoriety in one city and become a tale to tell the grandkids in the other.

Spoony's high at Saints' thrilling win over storied Norwegians Rosenborg was matched only by his incredulity at his shamed former mates plunging to Scotland's worst-ever aggregate defeat in Europe against Malmo.

The midfielder admitted: "I was here 14 years ago for that famous 3-3 draw with Monaco. I went out on the pitch thinking 'I used to be in that stand in that seat there watching guys like Nick Dasovic in that team...

"He tweeted before the game wishing Saints all the best. I quoted his tweet and added '#legend' to it.

"I hope he tweets the same back now!

"That result back then was pretty spectacular, something special.

"But a 1-1 draw seeing us through to the next round and being involved in it? That's extra-special.

"I was there that night with my dad and my brother. I was still a young boy and they were both here again this time. It is great they able to witness it."

Wotherspoon's only other European experience was a night of misery against Maribor three years ago for Hibs – an embarrassment eclipsed by Thursday night's 9-0 aggregate humiliations at the hands of Malmo.

The 23-year-old confessed: "I thought someone was taking the mickey when I was told the Hibs score. I'm gutted for the boys. That's a real sore one.

"My girlfriend's dad is a Hibs fan so I'm sure he'll have a few words to say to me but he'll also be delighted for Saints as well.

"And it was time for me to move on. I had been there seven years so I needed a fresh start, to widen my career a wee bit.

"And it's special knowing my mates and my family were there in the stand against Rosenborg watching me."

One person not watching him on Thursday was nine-months-pregnant girlfriend Sophie Appolinari.

She's due within a week – and the former Scotland Under-21 star is praying she hangs on until AFTER their next round clash with FC Minsk in Belarus on Thursday.

He laughed: "I felt bad she wasn't there but the worry is now that she can hang in there long enough for us to see the next game through!"

Wotherspoon is well aware of the wider context of Saints' result, though.

And he insists other Scottish teams should take a leaf from their book when it comes to self-belief.

He's no stranger to it personally. He scored the winner for Scotland in Holland in an Under-21 game two years ago that rocked one of the top youth sides in Europe.

And he said: "Rosenborg were a seeded team who thought they'd go through easily. But we got the ball down and showed them we could play. Anything can happen if you believe in it.

"I've had a few results like this with the Under-21s as well. You can pull them out of the bag when you believe in yourselves.

"They sit off you compared to the Scottish game. We're used to fast and furious but they slow it down which means you get space to play and counter attack and that's what we did over the two games.

"Scottish football can learn from that."

Taken from the Daily Record