Danny Griffin looks back on cup final own goal

Friday 4th November

Yesterday (November 3rd) marked twenty years since Saints’ first cup final appearance since losing 1-0 to Celtic in the League Cup final of 1969.

Saints would in later years go onto play in the 2007/08 Challenge Cup Final and, of course, the 2014 Scottish Cup Final - winning both matches. But in 1996 it was a historic day for the Division One side and one they hoped would end in glory against a Stranraer side from the division below.

In earlier rounds Paul Sturrock’s side had defeated Albion Rovers (2-1), Ayr United (3-0) before thumping Tayside rivals Dundee 5-1 in the quarter finals and then beating Montrose 4-2 to make it through to their first-ever Challenge Cup final.

Hopes had been high but moods were damped by extremely poor weather conditions, as former St. Johnstone defender Danny Griffin, who played that day, vividly remembers.

“Going into that match the only things that sticks in my head was the type of day it was. It was blowing a gale and it was absolutely chucking it down with rain.

“We had been looking at the weather forecast before the game and knew it would be dreadful. Any Saints fan who was there will tell you how bad it was!”

With the dark clouds circling around Broadwood, things were about to get gloomier still for St. Johnstone when Stranraer won a free-kick 40 yards from goal midway through the first half.

“We were playing against the wind and they got that free-kick. (Tom) Black I think it was hit a shot and Alan Main, who was in goal, saved it. But when he pushed it away I tried to get there for the rebound ahead of two Stranraer players and I’ve put it into my own net!

“It was a disaster personally, I was only 19 years old at the time. I remember coming in at half-time and Sturrock asking me, ‘what did you do that for?’ and I said ‘I didn’t mean it!’

“I can laugh looking back at it now but I thought Paul Sturrock and John Blackely were about to strangle me!”

Saints lost the game 1-0.

“My wife tells me she remembers that I was very quiet. Anytime we got beat I was quiet, and would just be silent for hours, but after that game I was very quiet.

“There was meant to be a big dinner planned at the Westwood Hotel in Cumbernauld after the game and we were meant to go there.

“At that time Sky TV was just over the telly and the yellow tickety tape bit at the bottom came up: ‘ST. JOHNSTONE LOSE CHALLENGE CUP FINAL TO STRANRAER. GRIFFIN SCORES OWN GOAL.’ It was on repeat every few minutes!

“Being such a young age, I was 19 at the time, scoring an own goal in a cup final could have gone two ways for me personally but it went the right way. I was just so determined to rectify what had happened.”

That determination certainly shone through from Danny and his teammates as St. Johnstone went onto win the First Division that year to win promotion to the Scottish Premier Division.

“I think we clinched the league at home to East Fife. It was 2-2 and then we went on to win the game 3-2 with four or five games to spare. There was a couple of games after the Challenge Cup final where we slipped up but after that we just pushed on from there and got going again.

“Losing that final definitely drove me on. It’s possible that game had an influence on the team winning the league that year too. It would have been nice to do the double but it’s unfortunate that it didn’t happen.

“If we’d followed up the Challenge Cup final loss by missing out on the league as well it would have been a hellish season. Getting over that finishing line and knowing you were going to get into the Premier league was a great feeling.”

Twenty years on and the own goal is something the former Northern Ireland international can have a joke about when reminded by supporters.

“There’s always the odd fan that brings it up. I always have a laugh and a joke about it that I scored in a cup final. Up until the Challenge and Scottish Cup wins in the last few years I would joke with people that only me and Nick Dasovic (scorer in the 2-1 loss to Rangers in the 1998 League Cup final) were the only St. Johnstone players to score in a cup final!”

On a daily basis Danny coaches children at McDiarmid Park and across the region of Perth & Kinross for the Saints in the Community Trust. It is in this role, and formerly when he used to coach academy sides at the club, that he used the story of his cup final own goal as a positive.

“It’s always something I’ve said to young players. You know that I scored an own goal in a cup final, I’ve had serious injuries, I’ve had ups and downs. So if a young one ever wants to have a chat about a low that they’ve had then my door is always open because I’ve been there, done it and wore the t-shirt.

“Nothing should hold you back in what you want to do. I had a dream when I was younger that I wanted to be a footballer and no one was ever going to tell me different.

“I remember my teacher in primary school went around the class and asked us what we wanted to be. The kids before me were saying things like ‘I want to be a vet’, ‘I want to be a doctor, ‘I want to be a brick layer’ and things like that. The boy next to me said he wanted to be an astronaut and then the teacher asked me and I said that I wanted to be a footballer. The teacher told me not to be daft and I was being silly!

“It was my dream and I was fortunate to be able to live my dream and play for 18 years in the game as well as getting 29 caps for my country.

“If anyone’s got a dream to be something then they should grab that dream with both hands because it can happen.”

These days Danny, now 39, is enjoying life as a Community Coach for the new Saints in the Community Trust, which had its official launch at the end of September at McDiarmid Park.

“It’s going great. It’s coming to the end of the year and things are just finishing as we come up to Christmas. Once we get into the New Year we’ll get a few new projects going.

“We’re still finding our feet and Atholl (Henderson) and Davy (Black) have played a huge part in where we are now in becoming a Trust. We’re ready to push on in the New Year with a number of new projects across Perth & Kinross.

“We’re there to help people in the community, whether it’s a little thing or a big thing, we’ll help if we can.”

RC.