The 2008–09 Scottish Cup was the 124th season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. The winners were Rangers, who defeated Falkirk in the 2009 final on 30 May 2009.
The competition was under new sponsorship. While the SFA sponsored the tournament last season, the new sponsor was Homecoming Scotland 2009, a project from the Scottish Government to encourage Scots from all over the world to visit the country. The tournament itself was known as The Homecoming Scottish Cup
Banks o' Dee, Bathgate Thistle, Lochee United and Pollok were the four junior clubs that entered this season.
Calendar
RoundFirst match dateFixtures Clubs Original Replays First Round 27 September 2008 18 4 82 → 64 Second Round 25 October 2008 16 2 64 → 48 Third Round 29 November 2008 16 4 48 → 32 Fourth Round 10 January 2009 16 2 32 → 16 Fifth Round 7 February 2009 8 1 16 → 8 Quarter-finals 7 March 2009 4 1 8 → 4 Semi-finals 25 April 2009 2 0 4 → 2 Final 30 May 2009 1 0 2 → 1
First round The First Round draw was conducted at Castlehead High School, Paisley on 8 September 2008.
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Replays
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Second round The Second Round draw was conducted at Lochee United's Thomson Park, Dundee on 27 September 2008.
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Replays
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Third round The Third Round draw was conducted on 27 October 2008. Six matches were postponed, all because of frozen pitches. They were rescheduled for the following Saturday. However, only two of those matches were played on that day, Elgin City v Spartans and Forres Mechanics v Dalbeattie Star. The other matches were repeatedly postponed because of poor weather. The Edinburgh City v Brechin City tie was eventually played on 8 December 2008 and the Inverurie Loco Works v Vale of Leithen tie on 13 December 2008. The Lochee United v Ayr United match was played on Tuesday, 23 December 2008.
On 11 December 2008, the match between Elgin City and Spartans was ordered to be replayed after Elgin had fielded Joe Malin, a loanee from Ross County, in a 2–1 win. Malin was not registered in time for the original tie, but played in the rescheduled tie. The match was ordered to be played on 15 December. It later emerged that Spartans had also fielded an ineligible player, Dean Hoskins, after an administrative error.
Source: ESPN Soccernet:, , ,
Replays
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Fourth round The Fourth Round Draw was conducted on 1 December 2008. Three matches were postponed due to failed pitch inspections, The first postponement, Inverurie Loco Works v Motherwell was rescheduled for 21 January but was not played (following 2 further postponements) until 2 February, whereas the Brechin City v St Mirren and Forfar Athletic v Forres Mechanics fixtures were both scheduled and played on 13 January.
Source: ESPN Soccernet: , , ,
Replays
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Fifth round The Fifth Round Draw was conducted on 11 January 2009 at Hibernian's Easter Road. Three matches were postponed, the Aberdeen v East Fife match because of adverse weather in and around the city, and the Airdrie United v Dunfermline Athletic and Forfar Athletic v Rangers because of frozen pitches. All have been rescheduled for 18 February.
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Replay
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Quarter-finals The Quarter-final draw was conducted on 9 February 2009 at Hampden Park.
Replay
Semi-finals The Semi-final draw was conducted on 8 March 2009 at Ibrox Stadium.
Final
Media coverage Domestically, both Sky Sports and BBC Sport Scotland broadcast selected live games, with both showing the final. Both also carry highlights of all games in every round. BBC Radio Scotland has exclusive domestic radio rights to the tournament. Through the SFA's international media partner IMG, the Scottish Cup is broadcast in various territories around the world. In Australia, for example, the Scottish Cup is currently available on Setanta Sports.
These matches were broadcast live on television.
Round Sky Sports BBC Scotland Fourth round Hibernian vs Heart of MidlothianKilmarnock vs Ayr United (Replay) St Johnstone vs Rangers Fifth round Forfar Athletic vs RangersSt Mirren vs Motherwell (Replay) Quarter-finals St Mirren vs CelticAberdeen vs Dunfermline Athletic (Replay) Rangers vs Hamilton Academical Semi-finals Rangers vs St Mirren Falkirk vs Dunfermline Athletic Final Rangers vs Falkirk Rangers vs Falkirk
Largest Wins A list of the largest wins from the competition. +ScoreHome teamAway teamStage10-0Banks O' DeeFort WilliamFirst Round6-0Dalbeattie StarSelkirkSecond Round6-1Forfar AthleticForres MechanicsFourth Round5-0StenhousemuirThreave RoversSecond RoundAberdeenEast FifeFifth Round0-5ClachnacuddinStenhousemuirThird Round
References