Black not a fan of old cliche 'your name's on the Cup'

Kenny Black hopes his Motherwell team can emulate former club Hearts in toppling the Old Firm in a national final - but insists they will not use the Jambos' 1998 triumph over Rangers as a benchmark of what is required in Saturday's showpiece against Celtic.

The Fir Park assistant manager was at Tynecastle as a player from 1984-89 and within a decade of leaving Gorgie watched his old club beat Rangers 2-1 at Celtic Park to claim the Scottish Cup, an occasion that marked the last time a team other than Rangers or Celtic beat either of those two clubs in the final of a cup competition.

With no inclination to draw upon the approach adopted by Hearts manager Jim Jefferies that day, Black, now assistant to Steelmen boss Stuart McCall, suggests that only a collision of rare circumstances and unlikely events is sufficient to allow any non-Old Firm club to overcome one of Glasgow's big two.

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"I remember watching (the 1998 final], but it's not one I refer back to," said Black. "It's just one of these things that happen once in a while. "We know exactly what we're faced with, a team that are hurting - they've lost the league title. It's up to us to make it as difficult as possible for them to gain a foothold in the game."

Rather than draw upon the exploits of previous underdogs who have triumphed against the Old Firm, Black and McCall can call upon a victory against the Hoops at Fir Park less than three months ago, at the end of February, as inspiration for their trip to Hampden.

"The 2-0 victory here against Celtic was a game in which we did really well and worked extremely hard to keep the clean sheet and get our noses in front," explained Black. "They didn't enjoy coming here. The playing surface was not what they expect.

"We got up against them in the first five-ten minutes and made it extremely hard for them. We managed to get the first goal early on, which settled us down, and we'll be looking for more of the same on Saturday."

Black has suffered at the hands of Celtic twice before, in losing the title on the last day of the 1985-86 season while at Hearts and as runner-up with Airdrie in the 1995 Scottish Cup final.

As a coach, his job now, rather than generate inspiration within himself, is to instil the requisite drive and direction in his players. "This side of the fence it's a different type of pressure," he admitted. "All our players are looking forward to it and we'll give it our best shot. The preparation this week will go a long way to hopefully making Saturday a special day for all concerned.

"Nobody expects Motherwell to win the cup, let's be honest. I don't go with this adage that we've done well to get there. Yeah, we've done well to get there, but we want to try to make it a good final and try and compete and make it as difficult as possible."