Like the English FA Cup, the country’s top teams have dominated the Scottish Cup in recent years, with just three teams (Celtic, Rangers and Hearts) triumphant in the past eleven seasons. Nevertheless, the beaten finalists tend to come from outside this tryst, with Dunfermline (twice), Gretna, Dundee, Dundee United and Queen of the South all reaching the final in the past six seasons. This suggests each-way backers of teams at a big price might be rewarded.
 
One team to avoid backing for the Scottish Cup is Hibernian who have never won this competition, despite reaching the final on nine different occasions. Champions Celtic have dominated in recent seasons, winning three times in the past five seasons. However, as with the SPL, success in Scotland tends to be cyclical, and Rangers were back on top during the 07/08 season.
 
This is a competition with a history of so-called upsets, in part due to the fact that there’s very little difference in standard between the Scottish First, Second and Third Divisions, certainly not the gulf in class that exists in England. Teams from the Highland League tend to be vastly underrated by the bookmakers (generally because they’ve not heard of them) and are sometimes worth a few quid against lower-league opposition.