This short lived competition, played mostly in May, was created as a money making exercise in the middle of the 1960s for the then First Division clubs excluding Rangers and Celtic who declined. In a regional qualifying stage four groups of four played to produce the semi-finalists who then played two-legged affairs until a winner emerged.
The cup came to Motherwell 45 years ago when Bobby Howitt’s team won the tournament in its second and last season. We finished top following the six games in a group that also contained Kilmarnock, Airdrie and Third Lanark and met the holders, Hibs, in the semi-final.
The first leg was lost at Easter Road 0-2 but following a terrific return at Fir Park on 26 May 1965 we won 6-2 after extra time (3-1 after 90 minutes) to earn a place in the final with a 6-4 aggregate. Dundee United defeated Partick Thistle in the other semi and were thought to be favourites to take the cup.
Over 12,000 turned out for the first leg of the final at Fir Park. Motherwell won the game 3-1 despite falling behind to a header from one of their many Scandinavians, Finn Dossing. Andy Weir, Joe McBride and Pat Delany combined to score the equaliser. We were in then complete control and Delaney and McBride delivered the 3-1 margin to take us into the second leg with a two goal advantage.
The last game was played on Wednesday 2 June and despite Berg’s defected free kick giving United a 1-0 win on the night, the cup was presented to Motherwell.
The winning ‘Well team was: McCloy, M Thomson, R McCallum, Aitken, Martis, Murray, Hunter, McBride, Delaney, I Thomson, Weir