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Strachan looking to round off Celtic's season in fine style

Merely winning the Scottish Cup final against Dunfermline today is not enough for Celtic, according to the Parkhead club's manager, Gordon Strachan.

For the Scottish Premier League champions' boss, who won the Cup three times as a player with Aberdeen, he wants a stylish performance in addition to victory at Hampden Stadium.

Celtic are massive favorites to complete a league and cup double by seeing off the Pars -- who were relegated from the SPL.

However, in recent months Strachan's side have struggled to regain their early season form -- which saw them go 28 games unbeaten.

Dunfermline, meanwhile, under manager Stephen Kenny, became the SPL's form side in the final few months of the season to almost stage a remarkable escape from the dreaded drop -- although they ultimately failed.

While Strachan, who led Celtic to a League Cup and SPL double last season, admits victory is the priority today -- he has also urged his players to try and regain their early season form and put on a show for the club's supporters.

He said: "This is my first Scottish Cup final with Celtic and since we've won everything else it would be nice to lift this trophy and finish the season on a high."

"Everyone is looking forward to it and we want to put on a show and a good performance," he said. "Winning the cup is paramount, but the players have been told all week that they have to perform."

Today's game marks the end of Neil Lennon's seven-year love affair with boyhood heroes Celtic and Strachan wants to send him off with more happy memories.

The Celtic manager said: "We want to give Neil a winning send-off."

Despite Dunfermline's relegation they have shown they can stage the odd surprise against the bigger sides in this season's Scottish Cup.

Rangers, Hearts and Hibernian have all lost to the Fife team in their run to the final.

Today the Pars will be bidding to add the SPL champion's name to that list and lift the Scottish Cup for the first time since beating Hearts 3-1 in 1968.

And Dunfermline manager Kenny has vowed his team will attack Celtic rather than simply defending and trying to hit them on the break.

He said: "The Scottish Cup final is something special. Our build up has not been very good because of our relegation but we couldn't have asked for anything bigger than meeting Celtic at Hampden in the final of this competition."
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