Scottish Cup stories, shocks & stars to watch for

3 years ago 106

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Watch Celtic v Morton (Saturday, 12:15 GMT) & Darvel v Aberdeen (Monday, 19:45) live on BBC TV. Follow all the action on Sportsound and on the BBC Sport website and app.

This weekend and into Monday evening, 32 teams will try to move one step closer to winning the oldest trophy in world football, the Scottish Cup.

A mere 16 teams entered the first competition in 1873, with Queen's Park securing the first of their 10 Scottish Cup triumphs in that inaugural year. The Spiders are one of the teams playing in the fourth round this weekend, seeking their first major trophy for 130 years.

They have gone a few rounds further than scores of hopefuls who, for a few dreamy moments, may have felt the hand of history on their shoulder, but foolishly interpreted it as an invitation to go down in the box.

Sun-dappled Hampden on 3 June with colourful rosettes on their club blazers may have been fleetingly in their minds, but cup football is no place for the vainglorious.

The preliminary round saw 50 teams compete from across Scotland - from the West, East and South of Scotland leagues, the North Caledonian League, the East Region Midlands League, and from the Scottish Junior FA and the Scottish Amateur FA.

The Highland and Lowland Leagues supplied 18 and 16 teams respectively in the first round proper, and the 30 who triumphed from there met the 10 from the lowest tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, League 2, in round two.

By the end of November, 20 Championship and League 1 teams and the 20 who had made it through the previous rounds went toe to toe. The 20 who came through unscathed now join the dozen Premiership clubs. Thirty-two teams remain from the 126 hopefuls. It's business time.

Before we get to them, spare a thought for the fallen.

Burntisland Shipyard failed to give Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale a stern test and bowed out while Fraserburgh gave Civil Service Strollers the run-around.

Dundonald Bluebell and Jeanfield Swifts - teams whose names seem plucked from the pages of a Walt Whitman poem - foundered, the former wilting against Benburb, the latter having its wings clipped by Brechin City.

Returning to the present, what should you be looking out for in the fourth-round ties? We've picked out a few storylines for you to consider.

David versus Goliath

Darvel v Aberdeen pits the West of Scotland Premier Division winners against the team sitting fifth in the Scottish Premiership. There really should be no contest.

However, the match - which is live on the BBC Scotland - on Monday evening, is being held at Darvel's tight Recreation Park. 'The Vale' have irrepressible pie entrepreneur John Gall as their chairman and he has worked with the team's sponsors to gather a strong squad and create passion at the Ayrshire club.

They have seen off Haddington Athletic, Tynecastle, Dalbeattie Star and Montrose to set up the tie against an Aberdeen team riven by defensive frailty and shorn of confidence after one win in eight since domestic football resumed after the World Cup.

A win for the sixth-tier team would arguably be the greatest shock in the history of the cup.

Best chance of an upset?

The leap in league status from Drumchapel United to Elgin City is not as great as that of Darvel to Aberdeen so the chance of an upset is more likely in this tie.

It would be quite astonishing to have a team from Scotland's seventh tier reach the last 16 of the national cup competition, but the team from Glasgow are 90 minutes away from doing exactly that.

Some 45 places separate them from their position in third place in the West of Scotland Football League First Division and Elgin City, also in third, in SPFL League 2.

Drumchapel United describe themselves as "a community award-winning grassroots football club formed in 2001". The Scottish FA named them 'Best Grassroots Football Team in Scotland' in 2017.

Wins over Easthouses Lily, Nairn County, Gretna 2008 and FC Edinburgh in previous rounds suggest the club is reaping what it has sown. The team will travel the 190 miles to Borough Briggs feeling they have nothing to fear.

Player to watch

Celtic begin the fourth-round action on Saturday lunchtime against Greenock Morton. Ange Postecoglou has his Premiership-topping team motoring, with skipper Callum McGregor, Reo Hatate and Daizen Maeda among those playing with an intensity that is hard for opponents to match.

Championship Morton are rank outsiders to pull off a win at Celtic Park, but if they are to do that the chances are striker Robbie Muirhead will provide the Ton's goals.

The 26-year-old has scored nine times in 25 games this season, and two of those came in a 4-1 win over Queen of the South in the previous round of the cup. What's more, his experience with Dundee United, Hearts and MK Dons could mean he is unfazed by playing in the big arena.

Team under most pressure

Motherwell's Ricki Lamie, Blair Spittal and Sean Goss look dejected after their draw with Livingston on 2 January

The League Cup and Scottish Cup can offer teams an escape from the pressures of league football.

Aberdeen simply cannot contemplate defeat at Darvel but they are not the only top-tier team craving cup relief. Motherwell boss Steven Hammell will take his team to Arbroath's Gayfield seeking a first win since the end of October.

Dick Campbell had an outstanding run in the Championship last season with Arbroath but they have struggled this term. They, like the Steelmen, need a cup victory to give them a boost in their relegation scraps.

While it is impossible to predict the 16 teams that will emerge from this round, one thing is for sure - there will be plenty of stories across the ties.