Eddie At The Double (1993)

(first published in the match programme for St. Mirren v Ross County, 2^nd November 2024)

St. Mirren made the journey down to Somerset Park to face Ayr in the semi-final of the B&Q Cup on 2^nd November 1993, hoping to gain revenge for the previous season's defeat to the Ayrshire men in the same competition.

The tournament started life as the B&Q Centenary Cup in season 1990/91. It was set up to celebrate the Scottish League's centenary and to recognise the valuable contribution made by clubs from the First and Second Divisions. It was originally intended to be a one-off, however its success and continued sponsorship led to it becoming an annual feature and another opportunity for clubs to win a domestic knockout cup competition.

Remarkably, St. Mirren had not yet played a home tie in the tournament. After their 2-1 first round defeat at Ayr in the 1992/93 competition, the current season's edition had handed them away ties to Clyde (1-0), Morton (4-2) and Airdrie (1-0, after extra time). The luck of the draw sent them away again for the semi-final. Meanwhile, Ayr had been drawn at home in their three ties and the semi-final pairing completed the clean sweep!

As the fixture computer would have it leading up to the semi-final, St. Mirren had played at home only once out of their last eight league and cup fixtures during October. On the other hand, this would be Ayr's fifth straight home match.

Ayr produced their usual 1993/94 season programme for the tie, printed black on white gloss paper with occasional red spot colour. The cover featured an image of the trophy (actually a glass decanter) above the full match details and the £1 price tag.

Page three carried the list of Ayr United officials and honours above the pools of players and match officials. Ayr Manager George Burley and his assistant Dale then gave their reports on the Ayr first team and reserves and this was followed by a report on the B&Q Cup quarter final ties and a Division One Round-up.

"Tonight's Visitors" introduced three pages of pen pictures of the St. Mirren squad, topped by a full team photo. Guest writer Ron Wyllie then penned an interesting insight to the previous week's semi-final draw process and reminisced on Ayr's history in the tournament, in which they had achieved two runners-up spots in its three-year history.

 

"Captured by the Camera" on the centre pages featured a collection of photos from Ayr's 2-0 quarter-final victory over Clydebank during the previous week.

"Programmes of the Past" featured a review of St. Mirren's programme for the visit of Ayr to Love Street in March 1971 and favourably mentioned its value for money, given that other clubs of that season were charging double the 6d price for the same amount of content.

There followed an appreciation of former Ayr player Tommy Walker, listing his career stats and marking notable moments from his six-year stint at Somerset Park. The programme was then rounded off by the "United Ayr to Zed" series, which covered the letter "M".

Although it appeared to be a busy issue, around twenty-one pages of the 36-page programme were occupied by adverts.

The initial talking point amongst the 4,309 crowd was the choice of referee Joe Timmons, who had dismissed three Saints players during the sides' last meeting at Somerset Park in the previous December. He upset the home support early on when he denied Ayr a penalty, but it wouldn't be the last time in the match that he would attract the ire of Ayr!

St. Mirren provided the only other talking points of the first half when firstly, Jim Dick's header was cleared off the goal line by Hugh Burns and again when Eddie Gallagher rattled the crossbar.

It was the home side who broke the deadlock after 48 minutes when Sam McGivern converted from a Burns corner, but Saints equalised twelve minutes later when Gallagher got onto the end of a Robert Dawson cross to lob 'keeper Cammy Duncan.

A 70^th minute clash between Burns and Gallagher then earned the Ayr man a second booking and more wrath from the home support was directed towards the referee. Burns had been the home side's most influential player and his dismissal turned the tie in St. Mirren's favour.

Gallagher himself could have been in trouble in the 85^th minute when he handled the ball into the net, but the card-happy referee deemed that it was only worth a yellow. The striker had more success a minute later when he got his head to a John Hewitt cross to send St. Mirren into the final and win himself the man of the match award.