St Johnstone captain Dave Mackay cannot promise he will not make any mistakes during Saturday’s Scottish Cup final against Dundee United.
However, he can at least assure his nearest and dearest that there will be no avoidable errors before the big kick-off. More to the point, there will be no repeat of the gaffe which almost saw them miss out on his only previous experience of the Scottish game’s showpiece event.
On May 21 2003, the full-back was part of a strong Dundee side which lost 1-0 to Alex McLeish’s Rangers.
Mackay, then 23, started at Hampden that afternoon but his relatives only witnessed him take the field after a last-gasp dash to the dressing room.
“The only stupid thing I remember doing from 2003 was not handing out my ticket allocation from friends and family!” he recalled.
“I was looking about for them in the crowd and then remembered the tickets hadn’t been handed out. I had to run in from the warm-up to get that sorted.
“That’s the only thing I’ll make sure I do right this time. God knows how many were standing outside thinking I’d not bothered to leave them anything.”
Part of Mackay’s duties as skipper this week was to travel to Glasgow to help with pre-match publicity.
“I would much rather be doing all this than sitting about the house like a lot of other players are doing just now,” he grinned.
“It is great to have a cup final to look forward to at the end of the season.
“Of course, it will be a proud moment for me when I lead the team out, as it will for every other player. It doesn’t mean any more because I’m at the front of the line.”
Saints have won the last three meetings between the sides but Mackay refuses to read too much into that.
“I don’t think we have their number I’m sure Aberdeen thought that before the semi-final and we managed to beat them for the first time this season,” he said.
“Past results won’t count for much. It’s about who turns up on the day, if anyone freezes or not and whoever rises to the occasion.
“They have young players but those youngsters have two or three years’ experience of playing first-team football.
“Even Ryan Gauld and John Souttar have 50-odd games under their belts and they have the likes of Sean Dillon and John Rankin in there, too.”