| Homecoming Scottish Cup | |
| Year: | 2008–09 |
| Country: | Scotland |
| Num Teams: | 82 |
| Defending Champions: | Rangers |
| Champions: | Rangers |
| Runner-Up: | Falkirk |
| Matches: | 95 |
| Goals: | 297 |
| Prevseason: | 2007–08 |
| Nextseason: | 2009–10 |
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.[1]
The competition was under new sponsorship. While the SFA sponsored the tournament last season,[2] 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.
| Round | First match date[3] | Fixtures | Clubs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Original | Replays | ||||||
| align=left | First Round | align=left | 27 September 2008 | 18 | 4 | 82 → 64 | |
| align=left | Second Round | align=left | 25 October 2008 | 16 | 2 | 64 → 48 | |
| align=left | Third Round | align=left | 29 November 2008 | 16 | 4 | 48 → 32 | |
| align=left | Fourth Round | align=left | 10 January 2009 | 16 | 2 | 32 → 16 | |
| align=left | Fifth Round | align=left | 7 February 2009 | 8 | 1 | 16 → 8 | |
| align=left | Quarter-finals | align=left | 7 March 2009 | 4 | 1 | 8 → 4 | |
| align=left | Semi-finals | align=left | 25 April 2009 | 2 | 0 | 4 → 2 | |
| align=left | Final | align=left | 30 May 2009 | 1 | 0 | 2 → 1 | |
The First Round draw was conducted at Castlehead High School, Paisley on 8 September 2008.[4] Source: ESPN Soccernet
Source: ESPN Soccernet
The Second Round draw was conducted at Lochee United's Thomson Park, Dundee on 27 September 2008.[5] Source: ESPN Soccernet: https://archive.today/20130103041040/http://soccernet.espn.go.com/scoreboard?league=sco.tennents&date=20081025&refresh=0&cc=5739, https://archive.today/20130103005534/http://soccernet.espn.go.com/scoreboard?league=sco.tennents&date=20081026&refresh=0&cc=5739, https://archive.today/20130103032506/http://soccernet.espn.go.com/scoreboard?league=sco.tennents&date=20081101&refresh=0&cc=5739
Source: ESPN Soccernet
The Third Round draw was conducted on 27 October 2008.[6] Six matches were postponed, all because of frozen pitches. They were rescheduled for the following Saturday.[7] However, only two of those matches were played on that day, Elgin City v Spartans[8] and Forres Mechanics v Dalbeattie Star. The other matches were repeatedly postponed because of poor weather.[9] [10] [11] [12] The Edinburgh City v Brechin City tie was eventually played on 8 December 2008[13] 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.[14] It later emerged that Spartans had also fielded an ineligible player, Dean Hoskins, after an administrative error.[15] Source: ESPN Soccernet:https://archive.today/20130102201402/http://soccernet.espn.go.com/scoreboard?league=sco.tennents&date=20081129&refresh=0&cc=5739, https://archive.today/20130103074440/http://soccernet.espn.go.com/scoreboard?league=sco.tennents&date=20081206&refresh=0&cc=5739, https://web.archive.org/web/20090316224919/http://soccernet.espn.go.com/scoreboard?league=sco.tennents&date=20081208&refresh=0&cc=5739, https://archive.today/20130103124017/http://soccernet.espn.go.com/scoreboard?league=sco.tennents&date=20081213&refresh=0&cc=5739
Source: ESPN Soccernet: https://archive.today/20130103042321/http://soccernet.espn.go.com/scoreboard?league=sco.tennents&date=20081209&cc=5739, https://archive.today/20130102220309/http://soccernet.espn.go.com/scoreboard?league=sco.tennents&date=20081215&cc=5739, https://archive.today/20130103003813/http://soccernet.espn.go.com/scoreboard?league=sco.tennents&date=20081223&cc=5739
The Fourth Round Draw was conducted on 1 December 2008.[16] 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.[17] Source: ESPN Soccernet: https://web.archive.org/web/20060618101947/http://soccernet.espn.go.com/scoreboard?league=sco.tennents&cc=5739, https://archive.today/20130103035309/http://soccernet.espn.go.com/scoreboard?league=sco.tennents&date=20090111&cc=5739, https://archive.today/20130103003713/http://soccernet.espn.go.com/scoreboard?league=sco.tennents&date=20090113&cc=5739, https://archive.today/20130103051402/http://soccernet.espn.go.com/scoreboard?league=sco.tennents&date=20090202&cc=5739
Source: ESPN Soccernet: https://archive.today/20130102230210/http://soccernet.espn.go.com/scoreboard?league=sco.tennents&date=20090120&cc=5739, https://archive.today/20130102214322/http://soccernet.espn.go.com/scoreboard?league=sco.tennents&date=20090122&cc=5739
The Fifth Round Draw was conducted on 11 January 2009 at Hibernian's Easter Road.[18] Three matches were postponed, the Aberdeen v East Fife match because of adverse weather in and around the city,[19] and the Airdrie United v Dunfermline Athletic and Forfar Athletic v Rangers because of frozen pitches.[20] [21] All have been rescheduled for 18 February.Source: ESPN Soccernet: https://archive.today/20130102201422/http://soccernet.espn.go.com/scoreboard?league=sco.tennents&date=20090207&cc=5739, https://archive.today/20130102214223/http://soccernet.espn.go.com/scoreboard?league=sco.tennents&date=20090208&cc=5739, https://archive.today/20130419044635/http://soccernet.espn.go.com/scoreboard?league=sco.tennents&date=20090217&cc=5739
Source: ESPN Soccernet
The Quarter-final draw was conducted on 9 February 2009 at Hampden Park.[22]
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The Semi-final draw was conducted on 8 March 2009 at Ibrox Stadium.[23]
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See main article: 2009 Scottish Cup Final.
These matches were broadcast live on television.
| Round | Sky Sports | BBC Scotland | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fourth round | Hibernian vs Heart of Midlothian Kilmarnock vs Ayr United (Replay) | St Johnstone vs Rangers | |
| Fifth round | Forfar Athletic vs Rangers St Mirren vs Motherwell (Replay) | ||
| Quarter-finals | St Mirren vs Celtic Aberdeen 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 |
A list of the largest wins from the competition.
| 10-0 | Banks O' Dee | Fort William | First Round | |
| 6-0 | Dalbeattie Star | Selkirk | Second Round | |
| 6-1 | Forfar Athletic | Forres Mechanics | Fourth Round | |
| 5-0 | Stenhousemuir | Threave Rovers | Second Round | |
| Aberdeen | East Fife | Fifth Round | ||
| 0-5 | Clachnacuddin | Stenhousemuir | Third Round |