THE ruthlessness and team ethos that have taken Glasgow Hawks to the brink of the double were demonstrated yesterday when their club captain was left out of tomorrow's BT Scottish Cup final squad.

Peter Wright, their coach, paid tribute to the attitude of Chris Docherty, who has battled to overcome a back injury, after he told the hooker that he would not be in the 22 because he has not played since January.

''I explained the situation to Doc and he took it on board exceptionally well,'' Wright said of what was the toughest of several difficult selection decisions. ''He is going to be a water carrier for us, though, which means we will be able to get quality information on to the pitch from someone that the players will listen to.''

This lack of sentiment demonstrates the mental toughness Wright and Rob Ackerman, his fellow British & Irish Lion, have driven home in what has been a spectacular first year in charge, bringing the Scottish title to Glasgow district for the first time.

That quality was recognised by Ian Rankin, who has also had a fine first season coaching Dundee HSFP, the second division side that is hoping to upset the Hawks at Murrayfield.

''Peter was always one to make sure things were happening if we needed to pick things up at training,'' said Rankin, who was the former inter-national prop's head coach at Edinburgh Reivers in the early days of professionalism.

''He demands intensity at all times and I'm pleased he's had such success so far as a coach.''

Dundee are very much the underdogs for Saturday's game, but Rankin is using all his know-how to try to gain an edge, including picking the brains of Damian Reidy, head coach of Aberdeen GSFP who condemned Hawks to their first defeat of the season last weekend.

Rankin is also not averse to playing mind games and he playfully suggested that he could have some insight into Wright's coaching methods.

''We worked together with Scotland A when Peter was brought in as scrummaging coach a couple of years ago and let's just say there were one or two things I spotted on the video that were quite recognisable,'' he said with a grin.

Rankin also arranged for Dundee to hold last night's training session at Murrayfield as a familiarisation exercise, even though 13 of their 22 know their way around having been in the squad which won the BT Shield competition in the curtain-raiser to the main event last year. Hawks, meanwhile, are setting a record by taking part in their fourth final.

Dundee also include Lindsay Graham, twice a cup-winner with Boroughmuir including when, as a second-division side, they upset Hawks in the 2000 final.

Yet it is the BT Bowl finalists, Perthshire, who boast the only player on show tomorrow who has experienced Murrayfield at its Test best.

Sam Kaleta, their player/ coach, was one of Samoa's two try-scorers when five Mike Dods penalties managed to scrape a 15-15 draw for Scotland in 1995.

The fear for tomorrow, though, is that the atmosphere will hardly be of the sort to get the nerve-ends jangling. All the signs are that the crowd will be a record low for finals day.

No team from the Borders in the main event is always bad news for the turnout as they are always particularly well-supported by their communities, while there is no local involvement from Edinburgh in any of the three matches.

Meanwhile, roadworks on the Forth road bridge are such an obstacle to any travelling support from Caledonia that the Dundee team is planning to travel via Stirling, virtually doubling their journey, while Hawks are by no means the country's best-supported side. Glasgow Accies involvement in the Shield final against Ber-wick, though, should maximise their backing.

The one piece of good news about the attendance might be the lifting of the alcohol ban at the stadium which was confirmed yesterday after a report in The Herald earlier this month.

Officials, though, admit they will be delighted with a crowd of 10,000, even though that is way down on previous years.