25 years on ... Celebrating Largs Thistle's Scottish Cup win

Cup-winning manager John Crawford praised the whole squad for their incredible achievement which stunned junior football in May 1994.
Second division Largs came from nowhere to lift the prestigious prize in junior football when they overcame Glenafton 1-0 at Ibrox Park in what was described at the time as a new chapter of David v Goliath.
Thistle were underdogs right the way through the competition as they overcame the likes of Pollok and Kilwinning Rangers before defeating the Glens live on STV in a memorable cup final sparking amazing celebrations.
Players, committee and management from a quarter of a decade ago attended the anniversary dinner along with supporters.
The guest speakers on the evening included the then Glenafton manager Alan Rough, local lawyer Quinton Muir, and compere Drew Cochrane.

Thistle manager John Crawford praised the players for their great strength of character and belief in rocking junior football to its core.
John said: “At that time, the late George Pratt was the chairman of Largs and he was a fantastic guy to have at the helm. Taffy Dicks was an outstanding match secretary too.
“In terms of Largs Thistle — to be in three cup finals in 25 years is terrific.
“Largs are an excellent example in junior football — and I have to praise all the Thistle fans for their tremendous backing that year. 
“The first time it really hit me was at our quarter-final away at Pollok — I was quite emotional after the game. 
“We were down to ten men after David Elliot’s unlucky red card — the support that day was unbelievable.
“It was a privilege to manage that team — one thing you can’t bottle up as a manager — be it amateur, junior or pro — is team spirit. You either have it or you don’t — and Largs Thistle in 1994 had that in abundance.
“They were a very close knit group of players — and you can still see that 25 years on.
“We played the underdog card well — other teams were said to have more experience than us — but we had lots of ex-seniors in our squad and I think that is one thing that the other people didn’t appreciate."

“Every single player played their part — we played a 4-3-3 system which suited our players, with Stephen Quigg, Pat McCurdy and Archie Halley up front.
“In midfield we had Adam Russell, Alan Rodgers and David Elliot, and the back four of Frank Morrison and Andy Elliot as full-backs, with Barcley Feeney and captain Jimmy Murray as centre-halves.
“We had a fantastic ‘keeper in Kenny Barnstaple who was on the transfer list when we first arrived at the club."
“A special mention to George Wall too — he came on a sub. We were down to ten men at the time and Barclay Feeney said to the dugout that we needed a defender on. George used his experience and was brilliant.
“Our goalscorer in the cup final — the fantastic Pat McCurdy — told me earlier in the season he didn’t think he could play for us as he couldn’t make training due to back shift.
“I told him to train when he could — and we would arrange some training outwith. We told him that he would need to play even better as a result to get into the team — and he certainly delivered.
“Pat was touch and go to make it in the final and was only at around 70 per cent but scored the historic cup-winning goal.”
The whole squad played its part, including Gary Armstrong, Stephen Phairs, Jackie Rafferty and Rab McKenzie, while cup-tied players, including John Byrne of West Kilbride and Albert Morrison, helped in clinching the league title.
John praised the committee men at Largs Thistle for their great support, including Campbell Crawford and David Blackwood who are office bearers today.
Assistant manager Ossie Findlay wasn’t able to attend on the evening. 
John said: “Ossie is sorry he couldn’t be here this evening but he is doing really well and still going strong at 86.”
John also had words of praise for Alan Rough and the Glenafton team after the fiery encounter of 25 years ago.
He said: “Glenafton had won it the year before, and in defeat, I couldn’t say any more in terms of how humble the Glens management were — when Alan Rough congratulated us, like he did at tonight’s dinner, he really did mean it.”
Current club president David Blackwood thanked everyone for attending on a special evening, and said the players’ amazing achievement will forever go down in local folklore as Scottish Cup heroes.