30 years on: Remembering when Stenhousemuir caused one of the great Scottish Cup shocks

Stenhousemuir, a third-tier part-time outfit, defeated Roy Aitken’s talent-laden Aberdeen 2-0 in 1995 to inflict one of the biggest upsets in Scottish Cup to date.

Two goals from Tommy Steel - nicknamed ‘Titanic Tommy’ by Falkirk Herald Ochilview correspondent Arthur McTague – gave the Warriors a famous win.

McTague’s match report on Thursday, February 23, 1995 remarked that Stenny “looked more Premier League than their visitors” and that “normally the story of such results is of a plucky wee team battling away, getting a break and holding on until the end, but frankly Terry Christie’s team outplayed their cup-laden opponents.”

Dons legend Willie Miller was sacked not long before the tie, and it had been a poor campaign for the Reds, but new boss Aitken had just beaten Rangers 2-0 in his first match in charge.

And anything other than a comfortable passage through to the next round was the expectation of most of the 3,500 strong crowd at Ochilview Park.

Speaking to the BBC, then manager of Stenhousemuir Terry Christie said: “Aberdeen were brilliant against Rangers, so we came away from that thinking we had a real task on our hands.

"Nobody dreamt that Aberdeen could possibly get beaten by Stenhousemuir. I'd be lying if I said I was confident.

"The Friday prior to the game, Craig Brown, who was Scotland manager of the time, came on the BBC and said he thought Stenhousemuir were going to beat Aberdeen.

"If I could have got my hands on him I would have strangled him! Talk about pressure.”

Here’s some pictures of that famous day...