An indication of the esteem which his fellow professionals hold for Dougie could be seen by the many weel kent faces who crowded on to the pitch or the leisurely warm-up. At one time there were twenty two players in claret and amber preparing for the game.
The crowd enjoyed the trip down memory lane provided by the following - Arnott, Dykstra, McKinnon, Martin, Krivocapic, O'Neill, Angus, Kirk, Coyne, Woods, Wishart, McCart, Philliben, Leitch, McGrillen, Russell, Paterson, Ferguson and even Tommy Sheridan who managed to squeeze into a 'Well top.
There were plenty of familiar faces providing the opposition, many with Motherwell connections - Boyd, Lambert,
There was a stirring minute's applause before kick off for the late Jamie Dolan and the proceeds of the half time draw were donated to his family.
It was fitting that Arnott should open the scoring and he did so in spectacular fashion. He took station on the left half of the box pinged a right footed volley beyond the helpless Kerr. Just like the old days!
Another reminder of former glories came from Sieb. The big keeper plucked cross after cross from the air and each brought a big cheer from the crowd. We can only hope that our current goalkeeping staff were in attendance.
The opposition soon took control and before the break McCoist had scored twice (his third came after the interval) and
O'Neill graced the park for fifteen minutes and provided the obligatory blast from thirty five yards at the insistence of the fans. He took centre stage when Arnott invited him to take a penalty after Kirk tumbled in the box. Psycho blasted high into the net before a slow motion replay of his famous celebration against Morton in 1991. The finger raised to the heavens was the same but the handspring transformed into the slowest of summersaults. The crowd loved the show.
Dougie threw his shirt into the east stand crowd after the final whistle as the stadium rose to thank our hero one more time.