As the big boys of Scottish football enter the cup, there are several plucky underdogs who will fancy making a name for themselves this weekend.
The fourth round draw threw out several interesting ties but none have captured the imagination more than Highland League Fraserburgh at home to Rangers.
It is the huge contrasts that make up the romance of the cup and while Fraserburgh’s players will have been hard at work all week at their day jobs, Rangers’ players have just returned from a mid-winter trip to Florida.
Few are giving the Broch a chance but manager Mark Cowie could do worse for his team’s preparation than run through the following list of cup shocks to inspire his troops.
Would a Fraserburgh triumph on Sunday top these 10 cup shocks?
Fraserburgh 1 Dundee 0
January 31, 1959
The Broch’s most famous result to date should act as either an inspiration or a warning sign, depending on where your loyalties lie.
Dundee finished 1959 in fourth place in the top flight and went on to win the cup three years later but came unstuck at Bellslea Park.
Johnny Strachan, a gas board clerk, scored the winner as the Broch pulled off what was considered the competition’s biggest shock up to that point.
Celtic 1 Caley Thistle 3
February 8, 2000
The mother of all cup shocks, which famously led the famous Super Caley Go Ballistic, Celtic Are Atrocious headline.
ICT boss Steve Paterson said it was the moment that Inverness arrived in Scottish football and despite the huge financial gulf between the two, his side were well worth their win.
Barry Wilson’s opener was cancelled out by a Mark Burchill equaliser before a Lubomir Moravcik own goal and a Paul Sheerin penalty sealed the win for the Highlanders.
John Barnes had been struggling as Celtic boss for some time and the humbling at home to the then part-timers was the final straw and he was sacked the next day.
Berwick Rangers 1 Rangers 0
January 28, 1967
Rangers would go on to make the Cup Winners Cup final later in the year but they couldn’t find a way past goalkeeper and future Ibrox boss Jock Wallace at Shielfield Park.
Sammy Reid scored the only goal of the game to seal what Gers captain John Greig said was “probably the worst result in the history of our club”.
Clyde 2 Celtic 1
January 8, 2006
Roy Keane’s debut for the Hoops was memorable for all the wrong reasons as first-half goals from Craig Bryson and Eddie Malone had Graham Roberts’ Bully Wee 2-0 up at half-time.
Clyde’s team had been hastily assembled the previous summer from open trials but Celtic’s team, which included stars like John Hartson, Shunsuke Nakamura and Neil Lennon, couldn’t find a way past them.
Stenhousemuir 2 Aberdeen 0
February 19, 1995
The Dons had beaten league-leading Rangers the week before but were in the middle of poor season spent battling against relegation.
Despite that, Roy Aitken’s men were expected to have far too much for Second Division Stenny.
But they didn’t. A double from dairy farmer Tommy Steele secured a last eight spot for the home side at Ochilview.
Caley Thistle 1 Celtic 0
March 23, 2003
Three years after ICT’s famous triumph at Parkhead, they repeated the trick against a Celtic team in the middle of a fairytale season.
It is arguably an even greater achievement than the first one as Celtic had just beaten Liverpool 2-0 at Anfield to dump them out of the UEFA Cup.
A few players were rested after that game but Celtic still fielded a strong team including Henrik Larsson as they went down to a solitary Dennis Wyness goal.
Falkirk 4 Hearts 0
January 25, 2003
Falkirk were flying high in the First Division so were always likely to cause top-flight Hearts problems but it was the manner of which they won this one that stands out.
Trinidad and Tobago striker Collin Samuel netted a hat-trick and now Ross County boss Owen Coyle added another as the Bairns raced to a 4-0 lead after just 31 minutes at Brockville.
Ian McCall’s Falkirk would go on to top the First Division that season but were not promoted because Brockville didn’t meet SPL criteria.
Albion Rovers 1 Motherwell 0
November 30, 2013
The Wee Rovers were languishing in the bottom half of League Two but landed some local bragging rights when a Gary Phillips goal pushed them past their top-flight Lanarkshire rivals.
Inverness Thistle 3 Kilmarnock 0
February 9, 1985
Long before ICT’s giant-killing antics, pre-merger Thistle pulled off a massive shock by beating Killie.
The Jags were sitting third bottom of the Highland League at the time but goals from Dave Milroy, Gordon Hay and Brian Fraser sent them through in front of 2,500 fans at Kingsmills Park.
Police were required to protect Killie boss Eddie Morrison, who was targeted by some angry fans who had made the long journey north.
East Fife 2 Hibs 0
January 31, 1984
It was a shock when East Fife managed to take Hibs to a replay after holding them to a draw at Easter Road, never mind when they went on to win the replay.
It was the first time a side from the bottom tier had beaten a top division side since reconstruction in 1975.
Goals from Tom McCafferty and Stevie Kirk saw the Fifers through.
