HE had a taste of the footballing high life in his teens but, in terms of experiencing big occasions, David Raven has been something of a late developer.

The man who scored the golden goal that took Inverness Caledonian Thistle into the William Hill Scottish Cup final was on Liverpool's books as a youngster and sampled first team football before, as he admirably acknowledges, being forced to accept that he was not equipped to spend his playing days with the likes of Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher.

"Funnily enough, I was in and around the first team and had a few sniffs of a few games and I thought, 'here we go, this is me'," Raven said. "But I quickly came to realise that I wasn't good enough for that level - I knew I wasn't and had to go and grind out a career elsewhere and that's when I left. It was the best thing I could have done, the only thing I could have done, but for six months or so I was thinking, 'this is me, yeah. I'll be playing in big finals and things'.

"I played in a couple of cup games, FA Cup, Carling Cup, a league game as well and I was involved around European stages as well, so it was great experience but I just came to realise I wasn't good enoughI played in a couple of cup games, FA Cup, Carling Cup, a league game as well and I was involved around European stages as well, so it was great experience but I just came to realise I wasn't good enough."

That honesty has served him well and tomorrow's Hampden showpiece is due reward for a decade and more of hard graft. "Now it's come round and it's taken until I'm 30, so I've just got to realise . . . days like today, people wanting to speak to you, it's not going to happen forever," he said.

It was certainly hard to envisage when he was learning his trade at the likes of Carlisle United, Shrewsbury Town and Tranmere Rovers, not least because he spent so little time playing.

"I lost about three years of my career from 24 to 27 through injuries anyway, which I regret a little bit, but things happen for a reason and I'm here for that reason so the last few years have been probably the best of my career," he added. "My last couple of years have been my peak years without a doubt. I've been playing the best football of my career since I've come to Inverness."

Even in that context, however, he admits to some surprise at how things have turned out, suggesting that in relative terms what he and his team-mates have done exceeds anything achieved by his former team-mates in the English Premier League.

"It's the best achievement of my career, a massive achievement, especially with this club as well," said Raven. "It's possibly a bigger achievement than Liverpool winning the FA Cup - just because of the difference in stature of the clubs."

Clearly he has considerable mental strength to have come through what he has to win this opportunity for his team with what was just his third career goal - and while he admits that will be tested by having to adapt from the underdog status that has accompanied Inverness for much of the season, he seems to have life in perspective. "I'm a positive person," Raven acknowledged. "If I get a negative thought I try to recognise it straight away and push it to one side. It's maybe harder to do that when you're favourites, but it's a personal thing getting ready for the game.

"It's not only the fact we're favourites but we've got our family and friends travelling up having paid money to come and see us. You have to put that out of your mind as well. You've just got to play the game of football and at the end of the day you're going to wake up the next day and you're fit and healthy, if you think like that you shouldn't go too far wrong."