1997–98 Scottish Challenge Cup

The 1997–98 Scottish Challenge Cup was the eighth season of the competition, competed for by the 30 member clubs of the Scottish Football League. The defending champions were Stranraer, who defeated St Johnstone 1–0 in the 1996 final.[1]

1997–98 Scottish Challenge Cup

Country	Scotland
Teams	30
Defending champions	Stranraer
Champions	Falkirk
Runners-up	Queen of the South
Matches played	29
Goals scored	81 (2.79 per match)
← 1996–97 1999–2000^[A] →

The final was played on 2 November 1997,[2] between Falkirk and Queen of the South at Fir Park in Motherwell. Falkirk won 1–0,[2] to win the tournament for the second time after winning the tournament in 1993.

Schedule

Round	First match date	Fixtures	Clubs
First round	Sat/Tue/Wed 12/13/16 August 1997	14	30 → 16
Second round	Tuesday 26 August 1997	8	16 → 80
Quarter-finals	Tue/Wed/Fri 2/3/5 September 1997	4	8 → 4
Semi-finals	Mon/Wed 15/17 September 1997	2	4 → 2
Final	Sunday 2 November 1997	1	2 → 1

First round

Brechin City and Ross County received random byes into the second round.

9 August 1997	Stranraer	4 – 4 (a.e.t.) (4–2 p)	Arbroath	Stair Park, Stranraer
	Young  15' Docherty  25' Friels  70' Crawford  119'		Thomson  3' Peters  86' Gallagher  90' Spence  116'

12 August 1997	Ayr United	3–0	Queen's Park	Somerset Park, Ayr
	Kerrigan  9',  58' (pen.) Wordsworth  72'

12 August 1997	Berwick Rangers	1–0	Montrose	Shielfield Park, Berwick-upon-Tweed
	Walton  53'

12 August 1997	Clyde	2–4	Raith Rovers	Broadwood Stadium, Cumbernauld
	Gauley  36' Gibson  61'		Wright  13' Cameron  18' Lennon  64' Dair  74'

12 August 1997	Cowdenbeath	0–1	Clydebank	Central Park, Cowdenbeath
			Lovering  4'

12 August 1997	Dumbarton	0–2	Falkirk	Boghead Park, Dumbarton
	Reilly  90'		Corrigan  8' McGraw  44'

12 August 1997	East Fife	1 – 0 (a.e.t.)	St Mirren	Bayview Park, Methil
	Dyer  114' Gillies  89'

12 August 1997	Forfar Athletic	2–1	East Stirlingshire	Station Park, Forfar
	Mann  3' Glennie  83'		Parks  72' Campbell  58'

12 August 1997	Hamilton Academical	2–1	Partick Thistle	Firhill Stadium, Glasgow
	Ritchie  72',  87'		Hetherston  23'

12 August 1997	Greenock Morton	3–1	Albion Rovers	Cappielow, Greenock
	Flannery  2' (pen.),  35' Anderson  76'		Bruce  72'

12 August 1997	Stenhousemuir	1 – 1 (a.e.t.) (4–5 p)	Livingston
	Henderson  106'		Magee  116'

13 August 1997	Airdrieonians	1–0	Dundee	Broadwood Stadium, Cumbernauld
	Cooper  88'

13 August 1997	Inverness Caledonian Thistle	0–2	Queen of the South	Caledonian Stadium, Inverness
			Flannigan  54' Rowe  59'

13 August 1997	Stirling Albion	2–1	Alloa Athletic	Forthbank Stadium, Stirling
	Paterson  18' McKechnie  81'		Irvine  48'

Source: Soccerbase

Second round

26 August 1997	Ayr United	0 – 1 (a.e.t.)	Clydebank	Somerset Park, Ayr
			McCall  110'

26 August 1997	Berwick Rangers	1–4	Airdrieonians	Shielfield Park, Berwick-upon-Tweed
	Walton  47'		Lawrence  10' Connelly  28' Black  44' Cooper  48'

26 August 1997	Brechin City	2–1	Livingston	Glebe Park, Brechin
	Brand  4' Feroz  27'		Raynes  73'

26 August 1997	Falkirk	3–1	Forfar Athletic	Brockville Park, Falkirk
	Craig  18' (pen.),  45',  76'		Morgan  35' (pen.)

26 August 1997	Hamilton Academical	2–1	East Fife	Firhill Stadium, Glasgow
	Cunnington  44' Davidson  82'		Moffat  27'

26 August 1997	Queen of the South	2–0	Stirling Albion	Palmerston Park, Dumfries
	Mallan  54',  55'

26 August 1997	Raith Rovers	0–1	Stranraer	Stark's Park, Kirkcaldy
			Young  69'

26 August 1997	Ross County	1–2	Greenock Morton
	Wood  89'		Blaikie  33',  74'

Source: Soccerbase

Quarter-finals

2 September 1997

Queen of the South	3–2	Airdrieonians
Mallan  26',  42' Flannigan  66'	Report	McPhee  45',  80'

Palmerston Park, Dumfries

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3 September 1997

Falkirk	3–0	Stranraer
Craig  72' McGrillen  77' Hagen  90'	Report

Brockville Park, Falkirk

---

3 September 1997

Greenock Morton	1–0	Clydebank
McArthur  85'	Report

Cappielow, Greenock

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5 September 1997

Hamilton Academical	4–0	Brechin City
McFarlane  48' Cunnington  52' Geraghty  62',  85'	Report

Firhill Stadium, Glasgow

Semi-finals

15 September 1997

Hamilton Academical	1–2	Falkirk
Clark  89' Quintongo  44'	Report	McAllister  22' McGowan  57'

Firhill Stadium, Glasgow

---

17 September 1997

Greenock Morton	0–2	Queen of the South
	Report	Flannigan  2' Mallan  54'

Cappielow, Greenock

Final

2 November 1997

15:00

Falkirk	1–0	Queen of the South
Hagen  65'	Report

Fir Park, Motherwell

Attendance: 9,735

Referee: R. Tait

Notes

A. ^ The 1998–99 tournament was suspended due to lack of sponsorship

References

1. Scottish Challenge Cup 1996–1997, statto.com. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
2. Scottish Challenge Cup 1997/98, Soccerbase. Retrieved 25 June 2011.

External links

• Scottish Football League Scottish Challenge Cup on Scottish Football League website
• ESPN Soccernet Scottish League Challenge Cup homepage on ESPN Soccernet
• BBC Sport – Scottish Cups Challenge Cup on BBC Sport