Marc Lawrence has fond memories of a previous Scottish Cup meeting with Falkirk and believes this season’s clash will be a great showcase for Formartine United.
The Pitmedden side’s reward for Saturday’s second round triumph against Clydebank is a trip to face the Bairns – who are top of League One – later this month.
Midfielder Lawrence, who also faced Falkirk in 2015 while playing for Fraserburgh, says taking on a full-time outfit who were in the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup last term is great for United.
The 25-year-old said: “I think it’s a great draw for the club, there are a lot of top teams in the draw and you want to be playing them.
“It will be a great experience for everyone and it will be a game where we’ll have nothing to lose.
“We’ll look to compete and do what we do well and you never know what can happen on the day.
“We’ve got a strong squad and we’ve shown that already this season.
“It’s the type of game we want to be involved in at the club.
“Formartine had a good run in the Scottish Cup a couple of years ago (playing Motherwell in the last 32) and this is another exciting time for everyone connected.
“Falkirk are a huge club and got to the semi-finals last season.
“That tells you everything about them, they’re doing really well in League One so it will be great for us.
“You want to test yourself against the best teams you can, they’re doing really well and it will be a great experience for us.”
Return to Falkirk
On Lawrence’s last visit to the Falkirk Stadium he equalised for the Broch in their third round tie before they were eventually defeated 4-1.
He added: “Watching the draw I did think ‘it would be funny if we ended up there again.’
“Scoring that day is one of the great memories I’ve got and a day I’ll never forget.
“I was 17 and at that point it was the biggest game I’d played in with the experience of it and the big crowd.
“It was a very proud day, my parents were there watching and it will be another great day this time when we go down.”
Lawrence was pleased Formartine, who are top of the Breedon Highland League, were able to continue their good start to the season by progressing in the cup.
He said: “It was a tricky tie against a good Clydebank outfit and the boys did really well to get through.
“Everyone knew what it meant to get through to the third round and earn that opportunity to play against a team from a higher level.”
