Final at Hampden Park, with Cooper and Smith on the scoresheet. In the league, Rangers narrowly secured the title by two points over Aberdeen, following a 2–0 home victory against Motherwell on 29 April 1978 with goals from Smith and Jackson. They would again face a challenge from Aberdeen in the 1978 Scottish Cup Final on 6 May 1978. Goals from Alex MacDonald and Derek Johnstone secured a 2–1 victory at Hampden, and a domestic treble for Rangers. Cooper appeared in fifty-two of the fifty-three matches Rangers played in his first year at the club and scored eight goals. To the surprise of many, manager Jock Wallace abruptly left Rangers on 23 May 1978 and was replaced by John Greig. The club made a poor start to the 1978–79 season, failing to win their first six league encounters. Despite this however, they recorded victories against Juventus and PSV Eindhoven in the European Cup, with Cooper failing to be selected for the ties by Greig. A mixed season domestically followed and they had all but lost the title in a 4–2 away defeat to Celtic on 21 May 1979. Describing losing the championship, Cooper said "you just want to emigrate as soon as you have got changed and walked out of the ground. It is like a spectre which haunts you for weeks." Despite this, Rangers won the 1979 Scottish League Cup Final in a 2–1 victory against Aberdeen and were victorious in the 1979 Scottish Cup Final, winning 3–2 over Hibernian. Tensions were beginning to rise between Cooper and Greig, mainly due to less-frequent selection of Cooper by the new manager. Cooper would often return home to Hamilton complaining the club he loved was "kicking him in the teeth". That season, Cooper made 49 appearances and scored ten goals. On 4 August 1979, Cooper scored a memorable solo goal against Celtic in the 1979 Drybrough Cup Final at Hampden. A crossed ball in from Alex MacDonald met Cooper at the edge of the box, where he went on to "keepie up" the ball over Roddie MacDonald, Murdo MacLeod, Tom McAdam and Alan Sneddon before slotting the ball past onrushing Celtic goalkeeper Peter Latchford. The goal was voted the greatest ever Rangers goal by Rangers fans and listed by The Guardian's Rob Smyth as the second greatest ever solo goal, after Diego Maradona's Goal of the Century. Sandy Jardine, who had