Darren Henderson revealed it was a dream come true to watch his son Jay book a place in the Scottish Cup final.
The pacey St Mirren winger has been impressing in the Highlands during his loan spell at Inverness Caley Thistle this season.
And the 21-year-old put on a show at Hampden last Saturday as Billy Dodds’ side thumped Falkirk 3-0 to set up a mouthwatering shot at Celtic in this season’s showpiece.
Jay’s father Darren, who is manager of WoSFL side Hurlford United, missed the start of his team’s derby clash with Darvel to watch his boy in action at the national stadium.
And he insisted it was well worth it to proudly watch on with his family as his son realised his own ambition as a player.
Darren said: “I had a very difficult decision to make. I’ve been a coach for a long, long time and I’ve never missed a Saturday game.
“But my son got to the Scottish Cup semi-final meaning I had an opportunity to see him play at Hampden.
“The club was great with me, they were telling me I couldn’t miss it and had to go watch him.
“It’s something I had to do as a dad, he might never have had that opportunity again.
“It was a great day for the full family and everyone was there. It’s one of my proudest days as a dad for sure.
“He used to mess about the park at half-times of Hurlford games, he’s always been a big part of this club as well since I joined 10 years ago.
“As soon as we got in the dressing room after the Darvel game the first thing the boys did was ask how Jay got on.
“It was great, it made it even better that they won 3-0 and now he has a big day on June 3 to look forward to.”
Darren added: “They played really well and it was a good occasion.
“I am so proud, he’s played at a better level than I did which I hate admitting to him!
“Now he’s got a cup final at the national stadium, that was a dream for me.
“It’s reality for him now, he just needs to stay fit for the next six weeks.”
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