The 1991 Scottish Challenge Cup Final, also known as the B&Q Cup Final for sponsorship reasons, was an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is t ...

match between

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire who currently compete in the Scottish Championship, having been relegated from the 2020–21 Scottis ...

and Ayr United on 8 December 1991 at

Fir Park Fir Park Stadium is a football stadium situated in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The stadium plays host to the home matches of Scottish Premiership club Motherwell and was the temporary home of Gretna for the 2007–08 SPL season. ...

in Motherwell. It was the second final of the

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km so ...

. The match was Hamilton Academical's first national final in 56 years since the Scottish Cup Final in

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * January 12 – Amelia Earhart bec ...

; whilst it was Ayr United's second consecutive appearance in the final of the tournament having lost the inaugural final the previous season. The tournament was contested by clubs below the Scottish Premier Division, with both finalists from the First Division. The only goal of the match came from Colin Harris for Hamilton Academical to win 1–0.Bell's Cup
''scottishfootballleague.com''.

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km so ...

. 2 November 2005. Retrieved 10 April 2013.

Route to the final

Hamilton Academical

Hamilton Academical entered the first round with 20 other clubs from the First and Second Divisions; six clubs received random byes into the second round. The club was drawn against Alloa Athletic in the first round at home and won 5–1 at

Douglas Park Douglas Park was a football stadium in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, the home ground of Hamilton Academical from 1888 to 1994. The stadium holds the record for Hamilton Academical's largest ever attendance, 28,690 people against Hearts in 19 ...

. In the next round Hamilton Academical travelled to

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. The club have been mem ...

where they won 2–1 to progress to the quarter-finals. With eight clubs left in the competition, Hamilton faced East Fife away from home and won 3–2 to qualify for the semi-finals where they played

Raith Rovers Raith Rovers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the town of Kirkcaldy, Fife. The club was founded in 1883 and currently competes in the Scottish Championship as a member of the Scottish Professional Football Leag ...

to win 2–1 and progress to the final; their first national final since 1935.

Ayr United

In the first round Ayr United played Dundee in a repeat of the previous season's final, which the club lost 3–2 after

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only ...

. This time Ayr United won the match 2–0 at Dens Park to progress to the second round.Scottish Challenge Cup
statto.com. Retrieved 21 June 2011. The next round was a match at Ochilview Park to face

Stenhousemuir Stenhousemuir (; gd, Featha Thaigh nan Clach) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies within the Falkirk council area of Scotland. The town is north-northwest of Falkirk and directly adjoins to Larbert in the west, where the nea ...

where it ended 2–0 to Ayr United. With eight clubs left in the competition, the club played Stranraer at

Somerset Park Somerset Park is a football stadium located in Ayr, South Ayrshire, Scotland. It has been the home of Ayr United since they were founded in 1910. Prior to that, it was the home ground of Ayr, who merged with Ayr Parkhouse to form Ayr United. ...

and won 2–0 for the third consecutive round and progress to the semi-final. The draw for the semi-final paired the club with Queen of the South which Ayr United won 3–2 to reach the final of the tournament for the second year in a row.

Pre-match

Analysis

Both Ayr United and Hamilton Academical played two games each at their respective homes of

and

, and two away games in the rounds preceding the final. Ayr United scored a total of nine goals and conceded only two before the final, compared with Hamilton Academical's twelve goals scored and five conceded. Ayr United kept a total of three

clean sheet In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

s whilst Hamilton Academical kept none. This was the first appearance for Hamilton in the Scottish Challenge Cup Final, whereas Ayr United had been defeated in final of the previous season in the competition's inaugural year.

Match

Summary

Details

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scottish Challenge Cup Final 1991

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the ...

Challenge Cup Final The Challenge Cup of Rugby league was instituted in the 1896–97 and the final was contested between Batley and St. Helens at Headingley, Leeds. In the seasons during the Second World War the final was played over two legs, with the aggregate s ...

Ayr United F.C. matches Hamilton Academical F.C. matches December 1991 sports events in the United Kingdom