Dons legend John Hewitt can hardly believe it’s coming up to the 40th anniversary of when he become a Scottish Cup record breaker.

January 23, 1982 was the day when John sunk The Steelmen at Fir Park, in the third round, by finding the net after just 9.6 seconds.
It remains the fastest ever strike in a Scottish Cup tie since the tournament started way back in 1873.

“Is it really 40 years ago?” said John, as we chatted before he took part in the Aberdeen FC Former Players Association golf outing at Newmachar.

“That’s pretty hard to take in because I can still remember it as if it happened yesterday.”

John’s winner in Lanarkshire kicked off what proved to be a magical run for Aberdeen in the country’s oldest knock-out competition.
Following the win over Motherwell, the Dons took the trophy back to Pittodrie three seasons in a row, beating Rangers 4-1 in the 1982 final, 1-0 in the1983 one and then dumping Celtic 2-1 in 1984 Hampden showdown.

The first of those Scottish Cup triumphs also sent the Dons on the road to glory in Gothenburg, when another even more famous goal from John beat Real Madrid in the 1983 European Cup Winners’ Cup final in Sweden.

“When you put it like that it was a pretty important goal,” added John, who is now aged 58, but looks fitter than many men half his age, thanks in the main to his passion for golf, in which he has an impressive handicap, in the low single figures.

“I was just glad to score it and get us through what we always knew was going to be a difficult tie for us at Motherwell.”

Aberdeen were indeed expected to get tested when they travelled to Fir Park for the third round clash, but the tie’s decisive moment came before many of the 12,700 fans at the game had even made it inside the stadium.

Mark McGhee took kick-off by playing the ball to John, who in turn knocked it out wide to Stuart Kennedy, who had started one of his trademark over-lapping runs, out near to the right touch line.

Stuart then fired a cross towards the edge of the Motherwell penalty area and when one of the home defenders sent a weak attempted clearance straight into the path of John, who had by then darted forward, he lashed the ball past keeper Hugh Sproat into the corner of the net.

John said: “I remember us kicking off and the ball being pushed out wide to Stuart.

“I knew it was likely he would then try to play a long, diagonal cross, towards their area, so I just did my best to get up there in time, incase a chance came from it.

“The next thing I knew I was running on to the ball, I managed to get a touch on it and fired a shot across Hugh Sproat and it ended up in the far corner.

“I scored a lot of goals, so it’s not always easy to remember some of them in detail.

“But I have fond memories of that one because it was a record breaker – and won what ended up being a really tough game.

“Motherwell had a very good side at that time, despite the fact they were in the league beneath us.

“They had gone something like 18 First Division games without defeat in the lead-up to playing us and would be promoted back up that season.

“They had a lot of good players, so we were really made to work for the win that day.”

John was delighted to learn after the match that his goal was a record breaker.

“It’s good that the record still stands too, but I’m sure it will be broken someday,” continued John.

“Adam Rooney had a good go at it not too long ago (the Irishman netted after just 12 seconds when Aberdeen beat Hibs 3-2 in 2017, in a Scottish Cup semi-final clash at Hampden).

“Adam got pretty close that day, but I’m expecting there will come a time when another player breaks the 9.6 second barrier.

“It would never reduce how much I loved scoring that one for Aberdeen though.”

John also scored the only goal as Aberdeen beat Celtic at Pittodrie in the next round, on the road to securing that final showdown with Rangers.

Aberdeen beat the Light Blues 4-1 at Hampden, after extra-time, thanks to goals from Alex McLeish, Mark McGhee, Gordon Strachan and a memorable strike from John’s dear friend, the late Neale Cooper.

John said: “Celtic were the hot favourites to win the fourth round tie, even though it was at Pittodrie.

“We managed to turn them over and it sent us on to what was the highlight of my career at that stage.

“Like every young boy, I had always dreamed about winning the Scottish Cup at Hampden.

“To do that, with my hometown team, was very, very special.

“I had bigger days to come, but it was a huge thrill to lift the cup that day and claim what was my first winners’ medal.

“I will never forget seeing Neale scoring and celebrating in the way that he did that afternoon.

“It makes me feel all the more sadder that he’s no longer with us, but It was great that he got that bit of glory.

“Neale never scored a lot of goals, so getting one in a final was brilliant for him, even more so because, like myself, he was a local boy.

“It was huge day for the club as well.

“Everyone knows that winning was everything to Sir Alex Ferguson and he wasn’t happy that we had failed to add another trophy since the Dons won the league title in 1980.

“There was a real fear that if we didn’t start winning things again he might show some of us the door!

“Thankfully, we got back into the winning habit that season and it was start of a very successful period for us and the club.”