The Cup final opposed Dukla to Bohemians, a Prague derby. No more Czech vs Slovak final, so two of the leading at the time clubs met trying to add a trophy. It was closely contested final – Dukla won the first leg 3-1, then Bohemians won the second leg 3-2. One goal difference decided the winner – Dukla.
Perhaps unlucky Bohemians, but football is about winners and losers after all. Unfortunately, Bohemians was not able to construct big squad – Dukla, Sparta, Slavia were stronger rivals, yet, Bohemians managed to scrape a strong team. Most people think Bohemians was just Antonin Panenka, but there was more than him, starting with Bicovsky. Wonderful period in the history of the club, one of their best, but trophies escaped them – so far.
Dukla won its 5th Cup – the first since 1969. Surely, they returned to the top of Czechoslovakian football and looked like a new great period, similar to the years between 1950 and 1965, appeared to be unfolding. The squad arguably the best in the country – Nehoda, Gajdusek, Samek, Stambachr, Vizek, Rada, Fiala. But times changed and Dukla, still able to get talented players almost at will, for everybody could be called to Army service, was not able to keep players after the end of required time in uniform. Most recently Jarolim, the talent snatched from Sparta, returned to his original club, for example. This placed Dukla in peculiar situation: they were getting talent, but had no stable team. With strong foes next door superiority was probably just a dream, but the team was winning, so why not dream more? Winners can always look ahead and Dukla was a winner.