The Dundee United players were dancing around the dressing-room, cracking open champagne and pouring it into the Scottish Cup.
He said, “To my disgust, the referee (Douglas Hope) didn’t give it. I couldn’t believe it and we did well to recover from that because it was a blow.”
Club history was made two minutes into the second half. Christian Dailly’s strike rebounded back off keeper Ally Maxwell’s far post and into the path of Brewster, who scored the goal that made him a Tannadice legend.
“It was such a great feeling to see big Craig score that goal but I would stress that we deserved it,” continued Cleland.
“It was fair to say that United won the final rather than Rangers lost it, although a lot of focus was on them missing out on the treble.”
After Golac’s dressing-room declaration, Cleland was whisked away from his teammates to supply a urine sample for a random drugs test, never an easy task for a player who had been sweating for 90 minutes.
His time spent in the medical room meant he cut a lonely figure as he finally left the national stadium, with the Tangerines’ team bus having long gone.
As he walked to a car to get him back to Tannadice to belatedly join the celebrations, Cleland remembers how former United colleague Duncan Ferguson, who had been on the losing Ibrox side, made a point of offering his congratulations.
“I was well over an hour late because I had to supply the sample so there weren’t too many people about when I left the ground,” he said.
“I do recall big Dunc approaching me and how dejected he looked.
“To his credit, he was very complimentary about our performance and said a lot of nice things about United. He didn’t need to do that but it was obvious he still had feelings for the club.”
Cleland finally made it back for the knees-up and the following day made his way on the open-top bus to the City Square to continue the party.
“There were thousands and thousands of people there on the Sunday and it was wonderful to see,” he added.
As well as the respect and affection for Golac, Cleland remembers how gratifying it was to see his predecessor as manager get involved in the cup triumph.
“As well as Ivan, we were all delighted for Jim McLean (who was chairman at the time),” he added.
“He was so important to the players because he had brought most of us together. I have some great memories and photographs from that time. It was a special achievement and it’s one I look back on quite often.”
Cleland is now an important member of the backroom team at St Johnstone, coaching the under-19 side at McDiarmid Park.
“I was at Inverness Caley Thistle previously but when they got relegated from the SPL last May they got rid of their youth team and I had to look elsewhere,” he said.
“You can argue whether or not that was the right decision but there are no hard feelings and it’s great to see them back up again.
“When (Saints boss) Derek McInnes phoned me I was delighted to accept his offer and I am thoroughly enjoying being at St Johnstone.”
In walked their ice-cool manager Ivan Golac. He stood in the midst of all the mayhem and declared, “I told you so!”
So recalls Alex Cleland, one of the heroes of May 21, 1994, who fondly remembers how Golac’s self-belief was instrumental in the Tangerines’ beating Rangers thanks to Craig Brewster’s winner.
Not only did the flamboyant former Partizan Belgrade and Southampton player name his team a day in advance, he took his players to Hamilton racetrack to enjoy a flutter on the eve of the final.
He oozed confidence in the days leading up to the game against the double-treble seeking Light Blues, despite the Glasgow giants being overwhelming favourites.
Golac’s declarations may have been dismissed by cynics at the time as fanciful and even eccentric but what mattered most was his players believed every word.
“I remember we were all celebrating in the dressing room with the cup when Ivan appeared,” said Cleland.
“He just said, ‘Well done lads, I told you we would do it.’ The thing is, he completely expected us to win the cup and we never doubted him.
“Even when he named the team publicly the day before I wasn’t shocked because there were no surprises where Ivan was concerned. He was just such a colourful character and we all loved playing for him.”
Cleland revealed that having plenty of notice that he was in the starting line-up allowed him to plan ahead.
“I was so relaxed because what Ivan did was give me a specific role,” he said. “My job was to mark Gordon Durie and I had come up against him a few times and knew his game.
“I was well prepared and the same goes for the other lads.
“We could concentrate on doing our own job and allow everything to come together as a team.”
It was not all positive in the run-up, though, with the Tangerines having to deal with the loss through suspension of playmaker Billy McKinlay.’Talent and experience'”Badger was such a key man for us and we knew he would be missed but we still had plenty of talent and experience in the team,” added Cleland.
“There were guys like Maurice Malpas, Dave Bowman and Jim McInally so we were confident we would cope and we did.”
With just 11 minutes on the clock, United should have had the chance to go 1-0 up thanks to some great work by Cleland.
He takes up the story.
“We were defending a corner and the ball got cleared to me at the edge of our box,” he said. “I collected it and ran forward into the Rangers half. I played the ball out to Craig (Brewster) and when he passed it back to me I found myself with a clear route to goal.
“I had just made it into their box and was about to shoot when I felt somebody come into the back of me.
“I found out afterwards it was (Rangers midfielder) Ian Ferguson and I felt certain it was penalty.”