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BBC Scotland walk away from Hibs Scottish Cup celebrations

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Sportscene

BBC Scotland scored one of the biggest own goals in broadcasting history when they abandoned Hibs Scottish Cup celebrations to cut to the Scottish news.

The state broadcaster has milked to death the fact that Hibs hadn’t won the cup since 1902 but couldn’t hang around to broadcast the scenes as the players took the trophy onto the pitch to share with supporters.

A pitch invasion at the final whistle delayed the presentation ceremony with BBC1 Scotland deciding to stick rigidly to their schedule rather than broadcast the historic scenes to the nation.

Seconds after seeing Alan Stubbs raise the trophy Hibs fans had to make do with the Scottish News before BBC1 Scotland switched over to Wembley for coverage of the FA Cup Final between Crystal Palace and Manchester United which digital viewers could watch on their BBC1 feed.

After 114 years of waiting it looked like another afternoon of misery for Hibs fans as they watched Anthony Stokes early goal overturned when Kenny Miller and Andy Halliday hit the target.

With ten minutes left to play Hibs were trailing 2-1 but once Stokes headed in a corner from substitute Liam Henderson there was a feeling that history was in the making.

In the second minute of stoppage time captain David Gray headed home another corner kick to spark incredible scenes of celebration.

Steven McLean’s final whistle was met with hundreds of Hibs fans racing onto the pitch where they were confronted by followers of the magic hat.

Mounted police ensured that there was no widespread violence after Police Scotland were caught short on the final whistle, the match was also marred by sectarian singing and a number of smoke bombs being released.

The delay seemed to catch BBC1 Scotland out with no plan to extend their coverage to take in the celebrations.

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