The Scottish League Cup changed format in 1981 after 3 seasons of two legged knockouts it reverted to a Group stage format with 8 groups of 4 teams and a 9th group of the lowest ranked teams where the winner would playoff with another group winner for a Quarter Final place. The Group phase was played in August before the league season began.
Group 1
Celtic started poorly losing at home to St Mirren 3-1, with Willie Garner scoring an own goal on his debut, as First Division St Johnstone beat Hibs 2-1 at Easter Road.
Celtic travelled to Perth and lost 2-0 to St Johnstone where a young Ally McCoist was emerging as their star. Saints topped the section as St Mirren drew 0-0 with Hibs.
The group would see scouts flock to see McCoist and he was soon sold to Sunderland as St Mirren would move to the top beating St Johnstone 3-2 away.
Celtic recovered from their poor start, with young Davie Moyes replacing Garner in defence, beating Hibs and St Johnstone both 4-1 at home before winning 4-1 at Easter Road and 5-1 in Paisley.
St Mirren topped the group with a final day 2-0 win over St Johnstone.
Group 2
Rangers opened with a 1-1 away draw at Morton before beating Dundee 4-1 and Raith Rovers 8-1 at home, where Ian Redford scored four.
Morton kept up the pressure on the Ibrox club with wins 5-2 at Raith and 2-1 at Dundee.
The group was decided on the penultimate match day when Derek Johnstone scored the only goal of the game , before Rangers sealed the group with a 3-1 win at Raith Rovers.
Group 3
Group 3 saw Aberdeen open with a 3-0 home win over Kilmarnock before losing at Tynecastle to Hearts 1-0, who had won 1-0 at Airdrie before drawing 1-1 at home to Kilmarnock. Aberdeen continued with 3-0 home wins over Airdrie and Hearts to move ahead of the Edinburgh side. Hearts shock 3-2 home defeat by Airdrie saw Aberdeen qualify with another 3-0 victory this time at Kilmarnock. The final games saw Aberdeen draw 0-0 at Airdrie while Hearts lost 2-0 at Kilmarnock.
Group 4
Dundee Utd opening their campaign with an incredible 4-3 win at Ayr, Robert Connor and Steve Nicol had Ayr 2-0 ahead but Utd battled back with Eamonn Bannon scoring a hat trick, while Partick enjoyed a 2-0 home win over Motherwell.
Dundee Utd won the group easily as they won their first 5 games , a 2-0 home win over Partcik followed by 2-1 away wins against First Motherwell and Partick before beating Ayr 2-1 at Tannadice.
Motherwell suffered 3-2 at home and 1-0 away defeats to Ayr before losing 1-0 at home to Partick, a poor start after their relegation from the Premier Division.
Dundee Utd only dropped points on the final day with a 1-1 draw at home to Motherwell which ended their run of 5 defeats.
Partick lost their final game 5-1 at home to First Division Ayr.
Group 5
Brechin got off to a flyer with a 3-1 win away to Queen of the South and home wins 2-0 over Cowdenbeath and 2-1 over Dumbarton. Queen of the South suffered a second defeat 1-0 at Dumbarton before 2-1 wins at Cowdenbaeth and Brechin either side of a 3-2 home win against Dumbarton put pressure on Brechin.
Brechin City would win the group after a final day 3-1 win Dumbarton as Queens of the South drew 2-2 at home to Cowdenbeath.
Group 6
Falkirk and Forfar opened with 4-1 home wins over Stirling and Alloa respectively before Forfar went top with a 1-0 win at Stirling as Falkirk drew 1-1 at Alloa. Falkikr took control of the group with home wins over Forfar 1-0 and Alloa 3-0. Forfar beat Stirling 1-0 at home and then won 2-0 at Alloa while Falkirk were held 0-0 at Stirling to set up a final day winners take all game at Station Park. Forfar Athletic would win the group defeating Falkirk 3-2.
Group 7
Berwick beat Clyde 2-1 while Queens Park beat Clydebank 1-0 in the opening games. Queens 3-0 win at Clyde put them ahead of Berwick who drew 2-2 at Clydebank. Queens Park would go clear at the halfway stage beating Berwick 2-0 at Hampden. Berwick kept in touch with a 3-1 win over Clydebank but Queens Park beat 1-0 at home. Berwick drew 2-2 at Clyde which virtually guaranteed Queens Park as group winners despite a 4-1 drubbing at Clydebank. Berwick’s final day 3-0 win over Queens Park still left them behind the Spiders on goal difference.
Group 8
Hamilton Accies opened with a 2-0 home win over Dunfermline before win 2-0 at East Striling and 2-1 at Montrose saw them lead Dunfermline who had beaten Montorse and East Stirling at home by the same 2-1 scoreline.
Accies 1-0 home win over East Stirling was matched by Dunfermline’s 1-0 win at Montrose.
The decisive game would take place at East End Park, where Dunfermline raced into a 2-0 half time lead over Hamilton to potentially leave the top two level going into the final day. Hamilton Accies however with substitute Tom Donnelly introduced at half time turned the game around to win 3-2 and claim the group with a game to spare.
Accies 4-2 win over Montrose left them as the only team to win all 6 Group games.
Group 9
This group was formed of the bottom 6 clubs from the previous season and would play each other only once a total of 5 games. The other 8 groups of 4 who played home and away , a total of 6 games.
Arbroath won the group comfortably winning 4 and only dropping points in a 1-1 draw at East Fife.
SUPPLEMENTARY ROUND
Arbroath as winners of Group 9 had to play off with a group winner.
Arbroath lost 2-1 at home to Forfar in the Angus derby first leg at Gayfield. Arbroath recovered from this at Station Park despite an early Forfar goal , Arbroath equalised on the day in the second half before a late Ian Harley goal took the game to extra time.
Forfar however prevailed with a Brian Rankin goal in extra time sealing a 4-3 aggregate win.
QUARTER FINALS
The first legs all but decided the semi final line up.
Aberdeen beat Berwick 5-0 at home, with Gordon Strachan scoring twice before completing the job with a second leg 3-0 win.
Rangers 4-0 win at Brechin allowed fringe players to play in the second leg which they won 1-0 at Ibrox, Jim Stewart Dave McPherson and Gordon Dalziel were included.
Dundee Utd‘s 4-0 win at Hamilton , where Davie Dodds two early goals ended the tie as a contest. This was followed by a trip to Monaco in the UEFA Cup where they won 5-2 before completing the victory over Accies with a 5-0 win at Tannadice.
St Mirren drew 1-1 at Forfar, with Frank McAvennie scoring before winning 6-0 in the send leg at home, Frank McDougall and Alan Logan both scored twice.
SEMI FINALS
Aberdeen won 1-0 at Tannadice, with Peter Weir scoring, before Dundee Utd produced a shock 3-0 win at Pittodrie. Paul Sturrock’s early goal was added to by Ralph Milne before half time. As Aberdeen chased a late equaliser , Paul Sturrock put the game beyond doubt.
Rangers drew 2-2 at St Mirren, with Saints coming from behind twice.
The second leg at Ibrox attracted of crowd of around 28,000 with highlights shown on STV’s Scotsport.
Ian Scanlon’s penalty had St Mirren 1-0 ahead at half time before Jim Bett’s penalty levelled the second leg at Ibrox. Rangers won 2-1 after a late winning goal by John McDonald.
FINAL
A crowd of 53,777 at Hampden and a live TV audience, saw Dundee Utd took an early second half lead through Ralph Milne before Rangers Dave Cooper equalised. It was former Dundee star Ian Redford who would come on as substitute to earn Rangers a late 2-1 victory.
