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The cup is a pyramid in structure and as a team climbs the numbers gradually thin out until all attention is fixed on a single contest.

Dundee`s form in the first round of 1910 wrongly suggested that they firmly belonged in the sports murky basement. They should have found their opponents a soft touch; the more so since Beith had sold their right to a home match and so played at Dens Park, but when a team carries so many advantages it often keels over under their weight. Beith were largely composed of potentially dangerous veterans, some of whom were suspected of being old enough to have gone `a voyaging with Noah in the Ark`, and further had that inevitable figure in supposedly unequal cup-ties - the inspired goalie.

Indeed, Monteith`s excellence led to his joining Airdrie later in the season. When Bellamy of Dundee lifted an early penalty over the bar with `the utmost nonchalance` the suspicion grew that the tie would require more than one instalment. A 1-1 score ensured that it did and a 1-0 victory the following week was only contrived with difficulty.

The second round brought an apparently alarming tie with Falkirk who were maintainng a brave pursuit of Celtic in the League but the thrill of the chase seemed to deprive them of breath in the cup and Dundee won 3-0, aided by a freak goal scored from the bye-line. On the same day, a 2-0 defeat of Rangers by Clyde introduced the element of unpredictability which is amongst a cup contest`s neccessary credentials.

As Clyde cruised joyously past celtic, Dundee were toiling against Hibs in the other cup semi-final. In two games Hibs refused to concede their opponents superiority and not a goal was scored. Dundee, however, had established a simple, but repeatedly effective pattern of play in cup-ties and in the second replay they finally imposed it on Hibs. Consistently that season, and particularly in their third round meeting with Motherwell, Dundee had been able to create the space for right winger Bellamy to ply his trade. From his cross, John `Sailor` Hunter expertly eliminated Hibs.

The Cup Final of 1910 was the greatest occasion the Dundee players had yet experienced but they nevertheless had good reason to think that they would be able to cope with the strain. Of the the team which turned out against Clyde on April 9th all but two had experience of playing in English football and were unlikely to be alarmed by the new experiences.

The game may be assumed to have been of particular importance to three of those playing for Clyde. For outside-left Booth it afforded the opportunity to add the scottish equivalent to the FA cup winners medal he had won with Manchester City six years before. For McCartney, who had broken his leg in the 1902 semi-final while with Hibs, it provided one last chance to regain redress from the cup. McAteer`s motives must have been acute, if less romantic, for he had once been on Dundee`s books but had never quite been able to win a first team place. Now, perhaps, he could demonstrate his worth to his former employers.

It seemd for a long time that the Englishmen, the veteran, and the reject would have their day. Although neither side could dominate, Clyde were at an advantage since their forwards were producing the sharper finishing. Midway through the first half Chalmers wheeled and clipped in the opening goal after Stirling and McCartneys had made a neat incision on the right. Before the interval another Stirling cross eluded Lawson and allowed Booth to further improve Clydes posistion.

Half-time Clyde 2 Dundee 0

No account of the second half is available until the remaining five minutes.

With four minutes to go and the score unchanged it can only have been professional pride and ingrained good habits which saw Hunter chase a loose ball in the Clyde area. The defenders, tormented by the imminence of lory, lost their nerve however and Robertson botched his clearance entirely. The ball rebounded off his colleague Blair and into the net. Some reports, with laudable charity, awarded the goal to Hunter but the Clyde skipper was adamant that an own goal had been scored.

For Clyde now the remaining minutes stretched and streched, seeming to provide countless opportunities for their opponents.

The Equaliser had the simplicity of the inevitable as Langlands hit Bellamys coener high into the net. Chalmers was then given one last chance to clinch the match for Clyde but all precision had been drained and he finished abysmally.

The contest extended beyond the final whistle as Lee of Dundee and McAndrew of Clyde struggled to take the ball as a souvenier. Footballers are traditionally superstitious and it may have been Lees success in winning that lesser trophy through the eventual toss of a coin wich led him to announce later that he would eat the tay bridge if his side slide did not now go to win the cup.

After two hours play the following saturday (extra-time for finals) Lee may have felt as if he had actuall attempted to digest that epic structure. Both sides were reduced to utter exhaustion by a heroic struggle enacted amidst a great deal of weather, but there was no by-produce interms of goals. The Clyde youngster Jackson collapsed and his glaur-covered the body was removed from the field some minutes before the end. Dundee stood up to the strains rather than better than Glasgow side and were clear favourites for the replay four days .

They had benefited by the introduction of Neal for Lawon (which brought the number of Englishmen in the side to four, the others being Lee, Dainty and bellamy) and had in any case borne muscular development in mind when choosing their team. Comrie had been preferred to to the more delicate Main and his presence mattered more and more as the Final lingered on. It was undoubttedly also of significance that the side were trained by Longair, their grim centre-half of the 1890`s.

The fans had other resources to call on in recuperating from the two hours of football. One paper summarised that day ; " There was a first `hauf` and a second `hauf`, and there was another `hauf` and second `hauf`, and after the game there were several `haufs`

The third match at last seperated the sides and once again Dundee demonstrated their persistance. They were a goal down after three minutes but a Bellamy header from a corner brought them their parity by half-time.

It was Hunter who at last gave the competition of 1910 its effctive end.

Defensive hesitancy by Robertson and McAteer allowed him to break clear and from what seemed an impossible angle he blasted the ball over the keeper`s shoulder. With the aid of local subscriptions the club was able to pay a bonus of between £30 and £40 to each player. Given the amount of overtime worked, it was no more than their due.

So that was story of how the cup came to Juteopolis and what a crowd welcomed the cup-winners in the hometown that night?

A newspaper report stated that the assembly in the vicinity of the Old west station was greater than that on the night the news of the relief of Mafeking was recieved!

On the way to the ground, the brake (coach) carrying the team and officials - and most importantly the Cup - was involved in a minor incident. So great was the crowd on thebrake that one of the axles broke, and the players had to continue the journey back to Dens from the Victoria road on foot, fighting their way through the cheering mobs. AYE, IT WAS A GREAT NIGHT FOR DUNDEE !