The first half was a tame affair, with neither
Pat Bonner or
Hamish McAlpine been required to make a save of note. Dundee United opened the scoring on 53 minutes;
Eamonn Bannon passed to
David Dodds who controlled the ball whilst holding off a challenge, then slipped the ball to
Stuart Beedie who fired a low shot past Bonner's left hand into the corner of the goal. Trailing to Dundee United, Celtic manager
Davie Hay make a tactical change in the second half by pushing
Roy Aitken forward from central defence into midfield. The move proved a success as Aitken's presence in midfield began to galvanise Celtic. A virtuoso free-kick from
Davie Provan in 77 minutes equalised the earlier goal from Dundee Utd's Beedie, only the third occasion that a goal had been scored direct from a free-kick in a Scottish Cup Final. Five minutes from the end, a driving run and cross from down the right by Aitken set up a diving header from
Frank McGarvey to win the game for Celtic. Roy Aitken, who had been sent off in the previous year's final, won the Man of the Match Award. ==Details==