A few of our highs and lows in the Scottish Cup as we look forward to Friday’s match against Rangers at Ibrox, which is live on Premier Sports, kick-off 7.45pm.

  • Stirling Albion’s best run in the Scottish Cup is the quarter-finals – a stage we last reached in 1989/90 when we lost 1-0 to Clydebank in a replay at Brockville after a 1-1 draw at Kilbowie Park. John Brogan was our manager at the time and Vinnie Moore scored our goal from the penalty spot. The Bankies were beaten 2-0 by Celtic in the semi-finals. En route to the last eight we beat Coldstream, Whitehill Welfare, East Stirlingshire and Inverness Caley.
  • Our most famous result came on Saturday December 8, 1984 when Alex Smith’s side thrashed Selkirk 20-0 in an incredible first-round tie at Annfield. Davie Thompson scored seven goals and Willie Irvine got five. Keith Walker and Neil Watt notched doubles, with Gerry McTeague, Jimmy Ormond, Scott Maxwell and Rab Dawson the other scorers.
  • Our heaviest Scottish Cup defeat was against Ross County in the last 16 in season 2009/10. Allan Moore’s men lost 9-0 in Dingwall, to the eventual runners-up, but we recovered well and went on to win the Second Division title on the last day, pipping Alloa on goal difference.
  • You have to go back to season 2000/01 for the last time Albion beat a team from a higher division in the Scottish Cup. Goals from Ally Graham and Chris Templeman earned Ray Stewart’s side a 2-0 win over Raith Rovers at Forthbank. We then lost 3-2 to Hibernian in the next round – not that anyone could see much because of the fog!
  • Our best Scottish Cup result at Forthbank was in February 1999 when we stunned Hibernian 2-1 in a replay with goals from David McCallum and Chris Jackson, ending the First Division leaders’ 20-match unbeaten run in the process. The first game at Easter Road finished in a 1-1 draw, with Stevie Nicholas giving us the lead that day.
  • A club record crowd of 28,600 watched Celtic beat Stirling Albion 3-1 in a Scottish Cup quarter-final at Annfield in March 1959.
  • Stuart McLaren’s first game as Stirling Albion manager was the remarkable match against Hurlford United, which we won 13-12 on penalties after a 2-2 draw. We had somehow scrambled a 1-1 draw in the first game in Ayrshire and prevailed after a record-breaking shoot-out in the replay.
  • Our first Scottish Cup tie at Forthbank was a 1-0 win against Berwick Rangers in January 1994, watched by 1,103 fans. That set up a meeting with St Johnstone and a last-gasp equaliser denied us a famous win at McDiarmid Park – the fourth-round tie on a Monday night ended 3-3 and we lost the replay 2-0 just two days later.
  • The last Scottish Cup tie at Annfield was a 1-0 defeat to Meadowbank Thistle in January 1987. Our plastic pitch was installed the following season and teams had the option of refusing to play on it – unsurprisingly all of them took the opportunity and we played ‘home’ ties at Alloa, East Stirlingshire, Falkirk and Stenhousemuir.