William Hill Scottish Cup Semi Finals Round Up

                   

                                  photo; William Hill Scottish Cup

The Semi Finals were due to be played at Ibrox even if Rangers were to progress into this round. It would see Dundee United play the League One Champions on their home turf on Saturday, April 12th. This caused an upset in the Dundee United boardroom. Aberdeen were to play fellow League components St Johnstone on Sunday, April 13th.

The Quarter Final round saw St Johnstone were the first team to book their place in the Semi Finals after a convincing 3-1 victory over Raith Rovers. The next team to book their place in the Semi Finals were Aberdeen after a tough 1-0 victory over Dumbarton. Dundee United were the next team to get their place secured into the Semi Finals after a easy 5-0 victory over Inverness CT. Rangers had a tough 1-1 draw with Albion Rovers which meant it would be taken to a replay on March 17th.

The replay against Rangers and Albion Rovers would decide who played Dundee United in the next round of the competition, after the draw had been made showing that St Johnstone were going to play Aberdeen and Dundee United would play the winner of the replay.  The replay saw Rangers win by 2 goals to none. After youngster Fraser Aird opened the scoring during the first half, just for Daly to double it early during the second half.

Photo; young star Fraser Aird celebrating the first goal in the replay 

The semis began at 12:45 on Saturday, April 12th between League One Champions Rangers and Dundee United. Dundee United were the favourites to win and they were set out to do so. Dundee United broke deadlock in 23 minutes through Armstrong and doubled their lead at the 36th minute through Mackay-Steven. Rangers however, managed to get a goal back 3 minutes before the end of the first half through a Smith free kick. Dundee United managed to secure their place in the Final through a Simonsen mistake which allowed Ciftci to get Dundee United's third goal of the game with 7 minutes to spare. A full match report: http://scotlandsgame.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/dundee-united-progress-into-finals.html

Photo; Dundee United team celebrating 

The second and last Semi Final to be played was between St Johnstone and Aberdeen. Kick off 12:45, Sunday, April 13th. McGinn was the first one to break the deadlock within the first 15 minutes. The teams went into the break with Aberdeen winning 1-0. This didn't last long as St Johnstone equalised in the 61st minute through May. Then gained the lead in the 84th minute again through May. This would see St Johnstone being the team that progress to the Final.

Photo; St Johnstone celebrating taking the lead

The Final between St Johnstone and Dundee United, a Tayside Derby, will be played at Parkhead on the 17th May. May the best team win.

Dundee United progress into the Finals

                                                             Ibrox Stadium

Starting XI (Rangers): Simonsen, Foster, Smith, Black, McCulloch, Mohsni, Aird, Peralta, Daly, Shiels and Law

Subs: Clark, Hutton, Faure, Gallacher, Crawford, Cribari, Gallagher

Booked: Black

Subs Used: Clark

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Starting XI (Dundee United): Cierzniak, Wilson, Robertson, Souttar, Rankin, Paton, Ciftci, Armstrong, Mackay-Steven, Gauld and Gunning

Subs: Dillon, Dow, Gomis, Watson, El Alagui, Graham and McCallum

Booked: Wilson, Armstrong and Gunning

Subs Used: Dow, Gomis and Watson

Photo; Dundee United top, Rangers top and programme from the day

My Man of the Match: Paul Paton

Photo; Rangers display

While kick off was approaching both teams had put together a display for the players to enter the pitch, to be fair Rangers put on a wonderful display while United did the best they could with fans still waiting to get in.

Both teams came into the game off the back of a defeat. However, Rangers were the team that started off the strongest. Aird, Daly and Shiels all had really good early chances for Rangers. Robertson was the only chance that was taken by United within the first 20 minutes of the game.

The first real chance for United fell to Stuart Armstrong in the 23rd minute. His right footed shot fell right in front of him and managed to slip it past Simonsen in the Rangers goal. This gave United the early lead in this Semi Final.

For the next 15 or so minutes, the early goal from United gave them the boost of confidence that they needed. It still wasn't the type of football that you would expect from a top flight club. In fact Rangers were the ones who were playing better football throughout the first half.

Photo; team celebrations

Gary Mackay-Steven was the man who doubled United's lead in the 35th minute, a left footed shot in the centre of the box placed it in the bottom right hand corner. Although United had the two goal advantage, they weren't the best team on the pitch.

Rangers were looking to get back into the game. They managed to do this with 4 minutes to go in the first half. A free kick from Steven Smith, allowed Rangers to gain a goal back as they went into the break.

The first half ended with Dundee United having the two to one goal advantage. 

Half Time Rangers 1 - 2 Dundee United

First half round up:
Rangers were by far the better team on the park in my opinion. For a top flight team Dundee United might have the lead but they weren't playing the way that they should be for the League that they are in. Other than the goal advantage it ended a pretty even half with the chances on goal, with maybe even Rangers having the better chances than Dundee United did in the half.

Photo; captains leading out the team

The second half began with Rangers wanting to get the equaliser and for United to keep a hold of their lead and possibly extend it.

It was all about United for the first 5 minutes of the second have when they were dominating possession. A Dean Shiels won free kick allowed Rangers to re-group and try and get back into the game. Smith and Gauld both had chances on goal during the early stages of the second period.

Rangers began to get back into the game up until the 70 minute mark with chances and shots coming from Peralta and Law. This was worrying United as they were loosing the majority of the possession. 

After the 70 minute mark past United finally got back into the game. For the next 10 minutes the game would be pretty even. 

Photo; Ciftci celebrating post match

A mistake by Simonsen, allowed Nadir Ciftci to dribble the ball past Simonsen and into the back of the net. Securing the  place for United in the 83 minute. 

Both teams did all they could to try and get goals and possession. However after 94 minutes played, Dundee United are the team that progress into the Scottish Cup Final.

Full Time Rangers 1 - 3 Dundee United

My man of the match was Paul Paton as he never stopped pressuring the Rangers defence and managed to keep the midfielders and strikers at bay. Overall he had a fantastic performance on his own. In my opinion, I think he is an asset to the team and works fantastically with Rankin in the sitting midfield roll. This allows Robertson in the defence to push up while knowing his roll can be covered while he is getting back into position.

Photo; Dundee United crowd

Attendance: 41,059