Dunfermline defender Greg Shields will walk out to face Celtic in the Tennent's Scottish Cup final knowing a half-hearted tackle at Falkirk last Saturday almost cost him his place.

The former Rangers, Charlton and Kilmarnock player was cup-tied when the Fifers last made the final three years ago, coincidentally also against the Parkhead side.

And after clashing with Bairns defender Thomas Scobbie during a 3-0 defeat in what was effectively a meaningless fixture, the 30-year-old thought for a moment that he would miss out on another trip to Hampden Park.

Shields said: "I hurt my ankle last Saturday in a first-half tackle on Thomas Scobbie and I was worried at the time that it could put me out.

"You say that you never hold back in games or at training, but I held back a little bit because I had one eye on the final and that's why it happened.

"And then I got clattered by Freddy Daquin at training.

"But you just get on with it and grin and bear it - and you can get it strapped up.

"Playing in a Scottish Cup final is what you dream of as young boy and I have never done that.

"I missed out the last time through being cup-tied.

"I also realised against Falkirk that if you get sent off for violent conduct you miss the final.

"I was close to getting sent off but it wasn't for violent conduct!

"So I was okay."

Shields believes victory over the Bank of Scotland Premier League champions at Hampden would be the culmination of the finest cup run any club has undertaken.

The relegated Fifers saved their best football for the Scottish Cup this season, beating Rangers, Hearts, Partick Thistle and Hibernian after a semi-final replay on their way to the Hampden final.

Shields said: "This is the best cup run that any team has ever had and I think Gordon Strachan even said that.

"We were written off in just about every round this season, against Rangers and Hearts and even Partick Thistle was a banana skin for us.

"And I don't think anyone fancied us against Hibs.

"But it has given us belief and it would be great if we could go and beat Celtic.

"That's been two finals in the last three years that we have reached when we have been playing in the lower half of the league so it's a great achievement for a provincial club."

However, Shields is under no illusion as to just how difficult it will be to bring the cup back to Dunfermline for the first time in 39 years.

Celtic have beaten the Fifers with relative ease in the Scottish Cup final and the CIS Insurance Cup final in the last three years and the length of the SPL separated the two clubs this season.

Shields said: "We go into every game against the Old Firm as underdogs and it's just unfortunate that we have played Celtic in the last two finals.

"A couple of months ago Celtic were playing against AC Milan in the last 16 of the European Cup, while we have just been relegated from the SPL, so that's what we are up against.

"They have probably been winding down in the last four or five games but they definitely go into the game as favourites.

"We need to put all that to the back of our minds."