LOSER'S MEDAL MEANS MORE TO ME THAN A WINNER'SGONG

THEY say nobody remembers cup final losers - but Gretna's efforts on Saturday might just change all that.

Steve Tosh may have walked off the National Stadium turf after an agonising penalty-kicks defeat to Hearts but he doesn't feel part of a failure.

Tosh just feels privileged to have hitched a lift on Brooks Mileson and Rowan Alexander's Magic Carpet ride.

And the midfielder reckons this loser's medal means more to him than all the other Scottish Football League winner's gongs he has picked up in his career.

Tosh said: "I never want to be a loser but there is no more fitting way to be a loser than this.

"I will treasure this medal as it means much more to me than all my title-winning medals in the SFL.

"At 33 years of age you just do not expect to play in the Scottish Cup Final with a team like Gretna.

"But we carried ourselves off well. To play the way we did against an SPL side is a marvellous memory.

"There is total pride and admiration in the dressing room and I think Gretna have exceeded their own and other people's expectations.

"It is unfortunate we did not win the Scottish Cup but s*** happens.

"We were always going to raise the bar and raise our game. Hearts may have been bad on the day but I think that was also down to us being so good."

However, Tosh insisted there will need to be some sort of reality check as Gretna prepare to take their place in the UEFA Cup.

He said: "Our fairytale continues as we go into Europe but what can we do in the UEFA Cup?

"We are going in to make up the numbers but we will enjoy the whole adventure."

After tearing his hamstring the previous Saturday, Tosh faced a battle to even take his place in Gretna's Cup Final starting X1.

He said: "I've torn my hamstring about four or five times now. I tore it last Saturday but I just did not want to miss out on this special day.

"I defied the doctor's advice, all logic and reason to play and I was functioning at about 70 per cent fit.

"What a player I'd be at 100 per cent, I tell you. Adrenalin kicked in and I didn't want to come off at all.

"I'm sure the bench signalled a few times because my hamstring was tightening up and we did not need any passengers - Hearts had a lot of skill and craft in the middle of the park.

"Luckily enough I just managed to play through it and I would not have missed it for the world."

But Tosh would rather have seen Gretna lose in normal time than suffer the agony of defeat in the shoot-out.

And he told how team-mates tried to console spot-kick sinners Derek Townsley and Gavin Skelton as the tears kicked in.

Tosh said: "I never thought we were going to win the Cup, even when we brought it back to 1-1.

"I would actually have preferred if the referee had given the penalty when Skacel went down and we had lost it then rather than miss out on penalties.

"I thought it was a penalty but maybe it was a case of the boy who cried wolf and it went against him. Had the penalty been given we would have had no complaints.

"We have a couple of devastated boys in the dressing room in Derek and Gavin and we've tried to pick them up off the floor.

"What Gretna achieved was nothing short of magnificent.

"I think we expected to turn up at Hampden as lambs to the slaughter and just enjoy the day but we were unlucky in the end.

"Owner Brooks Mileson was choking back the tears in the dressing room along with a few other lads so I cheekily asked if we'd get a bonus for taking the final to extra-time and that made us all laugh." Tosh, who feels he has finally been vindicated for taking the step down from the SPL and leaving Aberdeen to join Gretna, insists the Raydale Park club are well aware that next season the rest of the First Division will be out to get them.

He said: "There is a lot of pettiness in Scottish football and we know the First Division will b e gunning for us.

"But we are a confident bunch after what we have achieved in the past two seasons.

"I always thought I did the right thing in joining Gretna 18 months ago. Nobody believed it would all come to this when I left Aberdeen but it has."

And while Gretna failed to get their name on the Cup, Tosh believes they left their mark on the tournament.

He said: "Football is all about winning matches and Hearts won the Scottish Cup, fair play to them.

"But I think Scottish Cup Final history was made as this will go down as one of the greatest finals in living memory - and I played in it.

"In years to come people may not remember who won the 2006 Scottish Cup but I've got a feeling everybody will always remember Gretna lost it and that fills me with an immense sense of pride."

Who says Cup Final losers will never be remembered?

Taken from the Daily Record