Stirling Albion’s glamour Scottish Cup fourth-round tie against Rangers at Ibrox takes place tonight live on Premier Sports with a 7.45pm kick-off.
And the players are determined to give a good account of themselves after victories over Berwick Rangers and Tranent Juniors led to what is a huge occasion for the club.
Top scorer Dylan Mackin (right), who bagged a double in the 4-0 victory over Tranent in the previous round in November, told the club website: “I think we will spend a large part of the game without the ball but we will try our best and give a good account of ourselves.
“This is why you play football – to play at places like Ibrox or Parkhead. It will be a good experience for everybody.”
The match will be just the second time the teams have met in this competition – the previous one was back in 1977/78 when the Light Blues prevailed 1-0 thanks to a Derek Johnstone header on their way to lifting the trophy.
Stirling famously beat Rangers 1-0 at Forthbank in a Division Three fixture in October 2012 when Brian Allison scored the goal. Their only other success against tonight’s opponents was 2-0 at Annfield in a top-flight fixture in the autumn of 1953.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s team have a four-point lead at the top of the cinch Premiership after Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with Aberdeen at Pittodrie and have a Europa League tie against Borussia Dortmund to look forward to next month.
Albion, who drew 3-3 at Stranraer last weekend, are massive outsiders but will be backed by around 800 fans and manager Darren Young has urged everyone to savour the occasion.
He said: “It’s great for the club – it will be my first game as a manager at Ibrox but it’s not about me. I played at Ibrox for Aberdeen and was manager of East Fife when we played Rangers in the League Cup although that was at Bayview.
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“The game is on TV and it’s a platform for the players to show what they can do. We have some players who might feel they can go on to full-time football or get back there in the future.
“We will obviously have to defend well on the night but we have to make the most of the possession we have and try to take any opportunities that come our way.
“It’s great financially for the club so I’m pleased for the chairman and for our fans getting to go because it wasn’t looking great a few weeks ago.”
Whatever the result, this should be a bumper pay-day for the club, with a big crowd expected for Rangers’ first home match of 2022. The attendance for their Friday night tie against Stranraer at the same stage of the competition two years ago was 38,560.
The referee for this evening’s game is John Beaton and the match will be played to a finish, with no replays at this stage of the tournament.
