All the ingredients are there for a classic cup tie.
A Friday night under the lights. Live on the BBC. An out-of-form league side against an in-form non-league club.
It’s the sort of night that Stevie Farrell would’ve relished as both a player and a manager during his seven years at Cumnock.
Now he’s hoping that the Ayrshire side where he began his managerial career won’t pull off an early Scottish Cup shock at Dumbarton’s expense.
Farrell joined the Townhead Park side as a player in 2005 and, aside from a brief spell at Irvine Meadow in 2008, remained at the club until 2011 having been player, captain and manager.
However speaking exclusively to the Lennox about his career in the game, he revealed that his coaching journey started long before that - as a young player at Stoke City,
Faz told the Lennox: “I think coaching was something I’d always had a desire to go into, even as a young player when I was at Stoke City.
“You had a lot of time on your hands down there and were away from home. So I used to go in and coach the young kids, the teenyboppers, on a Friday night. And I loved it.
“You couldn’t really call it coaching. It was really just throwing a ball to the kids and letting them enjoy themselves, but it was something I had an appetite for.
“With managers I worked with I was always asking questions. I always liked working for coaches and managers who would say things in dressing rooms that I hadn’t necessarily heard before. That always intrigued me.
“I’ve always been a sponge. Always learning.”
Farrell was handed the opportunity to take over at Cumnock in 2009, but admits he felt responsible for previous manager Campbell Money - a former teammate of his at St Mirren - losing his job.
The boss continued: “I was in my late 30s at the time, I was captain of the club and I was enjoying playing every week. I felt at that time that the team needed me to play. We were in a difficult position at the time.
“Looking back, I was one of the big reasons that Campbell (Money) had lost his job, because as a player you have to take responsibility. Everyone looks at managers these days, but the players I played with were brilliant at looking in the mirror and realising that it was us first and foremost.
“I had to take that responsibility. As his captain I had let him down.
“After that the club approached me to see if I would take it. And I took the weekend to think about it. I spoke to people I trust and I felt the time was right.
“My playing career was coming to an end and it was an opportunity at a big club. I didn’t think I’d start at such a big club.”
Taking over at Cumnock brought with it high expectations from a crowd starved of success compared to neighbours Auchinleck Talbot, as Farrell explained.
“Being at Cumnock taught me that there are ups and downs. I saw Ange Postecoglou talking about the cycle last week. People are very reactive.
“When you win it’s the best thing in the world, when you lose you’re poisonous.
“The change in this country is frightening. It’s bust or boom.
“When you’re winning it’s lovely and everyone wants to talk to you. When you’re losing you’re useless, murder and nobody wants a blether with you.
“That’s across every level. Look at the Scotland National Team. They’ve gone from heroes to zeroes and back to heroes again.
“It’s just what we do in this country.
“I learnt that very quickly. Cumnock have a big support, a very fervent support. Every time we lost a game it was a funeral.
“That’s what managing at that level with a top club taught me. Fans only accept winning. They don’t accept any reasons or mitigation, they don’t accept any excuses. They just want to win.
“That was good. It stood me in good stead for the difficult times I’ve had in my management career over the last decade or so.”
As an Ayrshire native who spent much of his career playing in fierce junior rivalries, Farrell believes the rest of Scottish football doesn’t understand the strength of sides in the region.
And with Cumnock’s fierce rivals Auchinleck failing to win last year’s West of Scotland League, he admits that the fans at Townhead will be hoping that the balance of power is finally tipping their way.
He continued: “I don’t think people fully appreciate the rivalry if they don’t live in the area or play in it.
“If Cumnock and Auchinleck were playing today it would be the third or fourth highest attendance in Scotland. That tells you everything about the fanbase, the passion and the desire.
“At Kilwinning we won everything one season and our gate was about 1500 a week. At Cumnock we were touching 1000. There are SPFL clubs, with the greatest respect, who get nowhere near that.
“The rivalry is something else. There’s a street between Auchinleck and Cumnock.
“It’s a hard thing for Cumnock fans to accept, but Auchinleck have been a phenomenon. The level of consistency they have shown is incredible.
“You’re starting to see wee cracks in Talbot now. Which is understandable. There’s always going to be a transition period. But this might be Cumnock’s opportunity to seize some limelight back.”
Cumnock v Dumbarton is live on BBC Scotland on October 21 from 7.30pm.
