Coll Donaldson determined to take fourth chance to reach Scottish Cup final

Coll Donaldson is desperate to end his Scottish Cup semi-final misery at the fourth attempt as Falkirk attempt to make it on to the big stage.

The Bairns face bitter rivals Dunfermline at Hampden Park on Saturday with either Celtic or St Mirren awaiting the winners.

For skipper Donaldson, it will be a fourth attempt to make it to the showcase final after losing out on penalties to Hibernian as a Dundee United player in 2016, missing Inverness Caledonian Thistle’s defeat by Hearts three years later through suspension and then going down 3-0 to Caley with Falkirk three years ago.

The central defender said: “The hardest one probably is the one I actually never played with Inverness.

“We had a chance that year, I feel like, against a Hearts side which wasn’t going too well in the league, to maybe get to the final with that Inverness team, and being suspended for that one was a strange sort of feeling, not being able to play.

“But as much as it’s a great occasion to be involved in, it’s horrific when you get beat, so I’m just looking to put that right on Saturday and hopefully get through to a final.”

Donaldson and his team-mates go into the game still smarting from Sunday’s 6-3 home league defeat by Rangers, in which they led 2-0, prompting something of a post-mortem on Monday, although the focus has now switched.

Donaldson said: “We’re so excited. As soon as you win the quarter-final and the draw comes out and it sets up this tie, you’re buzzing, it’s in the back of your mind.

“But we’ve had really important league games to take care of in between that. We were obviously desperately disappointed with how Sunday transpired, but we’ve dealt with that and now it’s just excitement.”