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Wednesday 9th March 2016

10 Things about the Scottish League Cup

Hibernian and Ross County contest the 70th League Cup Final at Hampden on Sunday, live on BBC Scotland with a 3.00pm kick-off.

Hibernian and Ross County contest the 70th League Cup Final at Hampden on Sunday, live on BBC Scotland with a 3.00pm kick-off.

Ahead of the big game here are 10 things about the tournament, which began in 1946/47.

1 Rangers, managed by Bill Struth, were the first winners of the Scottish League Cup, beating Aberdeen 4-0 at Hampden in April 1947. Dundee were the first team to retain the trophy, winning in 1951/52 and 1952/53.

2 There have been nine League Cup Final hat-tricks - most recently Henrik Larsson for Celtic against Kilmarnock in 2000/01 - but the only player to net four goals in a final is Jim Forrest, who achieved the feat when Rangers beat Morton 5-0 in 1963/64.

3 The record League Cup Final attendance was set in 1965/66 when 107,109 fans saw Celtic beat Rangers 2-1 – that is one of three six-figure final attendances.

4 Two clubs have won the League Cup when outside the top flight. East Fife were a Second Division team when they beat Falkirk in 1947/48 and Raith Rovers were in Division One when they stunned Celtic on penalties after a 2-2 draw at Ibrox in 1994/95.

5 Celtic reached the League Cup final for 14 seasons in a row between 1964/65 and 1977/78. That sequence included five successive wins – in all they won six and lost eight of those 14 finals.

6 The highest-scoring League Cup Final was in 1974/75 (pictured) when Celtic beat Hibernian 6-3. Dixie Deans scored a hat-trick for Jock Stein's men while Joe Harper finished on the losing team despite netting a treble for Eddie Turnbull's team.

7 The venue for the 1980/81 League Cup Final was decided by the toss of a coin. Dundee won the right to stage the game but Dundee United came out on top 3-0 to retain the trophy they won against Aberdeen, also at Dens Park, the year before.

8 The most common result in a League Cup Final is 2-1, which has been the outcome in 18 of the previous 69 finals. There have been four goalless draws, the most recent of which was in 2013/14 when Aberdeen beat Inverness Caley Thistle on penalties at Celtic Park.

9 Two clubs suffered their record defeats in the 1993/94 League Cup - Albion Rovers lost 11-1 to Partick Thistle at Fir Park and a fortnight later Arbroath were beaten 9-1 by Celtic at Gayfield.

10 Ross County are the 22nd team to reach the Scottish League Cup Final and 14 different clubs have lifted the trophy - Rangers (27), Celtic (15), Aberdeen (6), Heart of Midlothian (4), Dundee (3), East Fife (3), Hibernian (3), Dundee United (2), Kilmarnock (1), Livingston (1), Motherwell (1), Partick Thistle (1), Raith Rovers (1),  St Mirren (1),

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