Delighted Raith Rovers boss Grant Murray told his players to savour every second of their Ramsdens Cup success over Rangers.
The Stark’s Park manager always felt his side could upset the form book by taking the trophy back to Fife and so it panned out as John Baird’s winner near the end of extra-time gave Rovers victory at Easter Road.
The team travelled back to Kirkcaldy last night with silverware in hand, and Murray maintains there are few better feelings in football.
He said: “We were underdogs going into the game, with 17,000 of their fans, so it was always going to be difficult, but we had to have that belief and I told the players that.
“We had a chance, only a chance, but if they had the belief and desire and gave everything on the day they had a chance of winning a gold medal for themselves and a trophy for the club, the fans and everyone in Kirkcaldy.
“And they’ve done it, and I’m proud of all the players involved.”
He continued: “I’ll give them Monday off and we’ve got another league game to prepare for on Saturday, but we’ll worry about that on Tuesday.”
Murray admitted his side executed their game plan at Easter Road to perfection, contributing to their amazing cup success.
“It couldn’t have gone much better,” he continued.
“It probably wasn’t the best game of football there’s ever been in a final, but finals are about winning and getting your name on the trophy.
“When the players turned up, I told them: ‘You’ve got a silver medal, go and make it a gold, don’t accept that silver medal’.
“Yes, we’re playing against Rangers, but it’s 11 v 11 out there. The big thing I felt at half-time was, our players were disappointed in themselves.
“They came in and felt they had given the ball away cheaply, so I said to them: ‘You can always up the performance if you want’.
“‘If you keep it the same you’ve got a chance of losing this game, but if you up it you’ve got a chance of winning it’, and that’s what they did.
“It’s hard to sit here and single anyone out. Dougie Hill got man of the match and I thought he was a rock at the back, but all over the pitch the commitment and the effort they put in was great.
“There were tired legs out there as it got late into extra-time, but what an achievement they’ve given me, the board of directors, the club and the fans especially. That’s why they came here, to enjoy the day, but at the end of the day you only really enjoy it if you win.
“So I’m delighted for the whole squad.
“The team spirit is great and we’ve had a wee dip in the league recently but it wasn’t about that today, it was about playing in front of your own fans and your own family and making yourself worthy of being out there.
“That’s what they did.”
Meanwhile, Rangers boss Ally McCoist insisted his side can bounce back from their defeat by beating Dundee United this weekend.
The Rangers manager was left to face the music once more after watching his team lose out to Raith Rovers in extra-time last night but, with United to come in the Scottish Cup in just five days, McCoist admits now is not the time for his charges to dwell on the disappointment.
He said: “We’ll regroup, we’ll see how the injuries are over the next 24 hours and we’ll start to prepare for a massive semi-final.
“I don’t think United played particularly well against Celtic on Saturday but on their day they are more than a handful for any team in the country.
“So we will have to play a lot better than we did against Raith, and we’ll certainly have to take our chances when we create them.”
He added: “United are a good team going forward, but there are one or two teams who have beaten them this season. On their day they will be a match for any team in the country, but we must believe we can get a result.”
He conceded his team didn’t do enough to merit victory, but felt his side created the better opportunities against Raith.
But he added: “If you don’t take your chances you obviously run the risk of losing a goal and that’s the way it worked out.
“We didn’t play well enough but we still should have scored on the chances we created. In an ideal world you could have got an early goal and it would have changed the shape of the game.
“As I’ve said I don’t think we played particularly well, but I thought we were certainly the stronger of the two teams.
“Physically we looked stronger and I just felt we were going to get another opportunity, but sadly we made a mistake at the back and it cost us. I thought we should have defended the goal better.
“There was a slackness on occasions about us defensively and it came back to bite us.”