Dunfermline midfielder Darren Young believes the time is right to heal old wounds by winning the Tennent's Scottish Cup final against Celtic at Hampden Park on Saturday.

The former Aberdeen player lines up in his second final against Celtic in four years and is still convinced the Fifers were the victims of rough justice when they lost 3-1 back in 2004.

Dunfermline looked on course for an unlikely victory when they led 1-0 at half-time thanks to a looping header from Lithuanian defender Andrius Skerla.

However, in the second half Celtic equalised through legend Henrik Larsson, the goal coming from a breakaway after referee Stuart Dougal failed to spot Bobo Balde's blatant handball from a Gary Dempsey corner.

Larsson then made it 2-1 and with six minutes left Stiliyan Petrov slid the ball past Pars goalkeeper Derek Stillie to seal the silverware.

Young, who has to shrug off the disappointment of relegation from the Bank of Scotland Premier League, is still rankled by the handball that Dougal missed.

He said: "It was the thing that was not really highlighted and at the end of the day Celtic won the cup.

"When we watched the game on television we thought Balde could have been sent off and we could have been playing against 10 men.

"But the referee never saw it, the ball went up the park and suddenly it was 1-1.

"We had done well up until then, we had enough chances to make it 2-0 or 3-0, but once Celtic scored you could see our heads go down a wee bit.

"And when they got the second it was all over.

"Obviously we have had a hard draw this season, beating Rangers, Hearts and Hibs, and every game we have had we have been the underdogs - even in the Partick Thistle game I think we would have probably been at evens.

"It has been a great achievement to beat the teams we have, the run could not have been any harder.

"Winning the Scottish Cup is long overdue and we will see what happens on the day. Hopefully, the right Dunfermline will turn up."

Young missed last season's 3-0 CIS Insurance Cup final defeat to Celtic through injury but claims there is nothing quite like a Scottish Cup final to get the adrenalin flowing.

He added: "You definitely wake up more excited in the morning because you know you are going to be playing in front of more than 50,000 fans and it's a once in a lifetime experience.

"If you win the cup we will become legends - even although we have been relegated!"