
UEFA CUP 1st Round, 2nd Leg
2nd October 1985
St. Mirren Park, Paisley
St. Mirren 3-0 Slavia Prague (AET)
GALLACHER 41
MCGARVEY 100
MCGARVEY 108
ATT: 11,768
Referee: Rolf Haugen (Norway)
- Saints produce (to date) their greatest European performance and victory as the Czech giants are eventually blown away by the guile and class of Frank McGarvey, who nets a brilliant Extra Time double to stun the Prague side.
- Brian Gallacher opens the scoring late in the first half, with a fortuitous effort that seems to develop from a clearance that rebounds off him and into the net. This is Saints first ever European goal scored in Paisley at the fourth attempt, and additionally the first in any Euro tie for 6 matches.
- The driving rain on a gloomy Paisley night does little to quieten the European record crowd inside Love Street however, but a tense second half elapses before McGarvey lights up extra time, firstly 10 minutes into the added period with a speculative shot that deflects home to give Saints the outright lead for the first time in 190 minutes over the 2 legs.
- Knowing a goal from the Prague side would knock Saints out on the away goal rule, the second period of Extra Time threatened to be much more nervy, however the home side play it out comfortably after McGarvey adds to his own tally almost immediately after the restart with a goal of outrageous quality, as he flicks a Kenny McDowall cross home with his heel to complete a remarkable result.
- Due to a UK wide TV blackout, no TV cameras are permitted at the ground to record this match, however some months later, grainy amateur footage was discovered capturing the occasion.
- The only negative from a magnificent night was an injury to fans favourite Ian Scanlon, and this would in fact end the wingers career.
- Saints would draw part-time Swedish outfit Hammarby in the next round.
TEAM LINEUPS
| ST. MIRREN | NO | SLAVIA PRAGUE |
|---|---|---|
| MONEY Campbell | 1 | HRUSKA Zdenek |
| WILSON Tommy | 2 | SOKOL Roman ![]() |
| HAMILTON Derek | 3 | KUBIK Lubos ![]() |
| ROONEY Jim | 4 | TAKAC Mirian 70 |
| GODFREY Peter | 5 | JESLINEK Jiri |
CLARKE Steve 74 | 6 | JAROLIM Karel |
| FITZPATRICK Tony | 7 | NEMEC Jaroslav ![]() |
| COOPER Neil | 8 | DOLEZAL Jiri |
| McGARVEY Frank | 9 | FRYDA Milan |
| GALLAGHER Brian | 10 | JANU Miroslav ![]() |
| SPEIRS Gardner | 11 | VIGER Bohas 56 |
SCANLON Ian 74 82 | 12 | REHAK Pavel 56 |
McDOWALL Kenny 82 | 13 | KOURIL Miroslav 70 |
| MACKIE Peter | 14 | ZAMAZAL Jiri |
| ABERCROMBY Billy | 15 | BERANEK Miroslav |
| STEWART Jim | 16 | VESELY Milan |
THE MATCH





“You never know”, might be the motto of provincial Scottish Football. The pub wisdom of the supporters of the less successful teams has always been; “The opposition only have 11 men on the park, the same as we have”.
Unexpected things can happen, and they often do. When St. Mirren started to score against Slavia Prague, they were breaching more than a defence, they were puncturing an assumption; one of the most famous European capitals wasn’t necessarily superior to a grey west of Scotland town.
As the realisation grew of what was happening, Paisley became for a night, one of the footballing capitals of Europe. St. Mirren were not only scoring a victory, they were fulfilling for their fans the dream of every smaller clubs supporters; if it can come true for them, why not for us?
That dream of an identity expressed on the football park, is the first key to the importance club football has had in Scotland.
William McIlvaney, 1986.
HIGHLIGHTS
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