Dumping Hearts at Balmoor gives Peterhead goalkeeper Greg Fleming all the inspiration he needs to help cause a Scottish Cup fourth-round upset against Dumbarton tonight.
Fleming was in the Blue Toon side that won the Betfred Cup tie against the Jambos in July, with Rory McAllister’s late penalty giving the hosts a 2-1 victory in Ian Cathro’s penultimate game in charge of Hearts.
Tonight’s game was due to be played on Saturday but a frozen pitch forced a postponement. Dumbarton head north without a win in their last six games and lost on penalties when the two teams met last season in the Betfred Cup group stages.
The winners tonight will be away to Morton in the fifth round.
Peterhead have been tipped to cause an upset in some quarters against the Sons and Fleming hopes they can repeat their heroics from that memorable night last summer.
He said: “No one gave us a hope in that game as we’d been battered by Dunfermline a few days earlier.
“Everyone expected Hearts to turn up and run over the top of us. We started well and, even when Hearts scored, we never let our heads go down.
“Rory got his goal at the end and it was exactly what we deserved from the game.
“That’s the game every-one will remember and hopefully we can do the same against Dumbarton.”
Cup competitions have not been too kind to Fleming, a summer arrival from Ayr. He made the quarter-finals last season but was beaten by Hibernian and, although he was with Gretna when they made the Scottish Cup final in 2006, he did not feature all season.
The 31-year-old, however, feels Peterhead have acquitted themselves well in knockout contests this campaign.
They finished just a point behind Dunfermline at the top of their Betfred Cup group and have already knocked out Raith Rovers – a division above them – in the last round of the Scottish Cup.
Fleming said: “We’ve done well at home, beating Raith and Hearts, and our form has been good. Dumbarton will fancy their chances against us – and will be favourites – but we’ve done ourselves justice so far and that’s given us a bit of confidence.”
While he is reluctant to look too far ahead, Fleming said the fourth-round draw presents lower-league clubs with a fantastic opportunity, adding: “A lot of games involve lower-league teams playing each other and you never know what can happen.
“There’s a chance you can end up in the quarter-finals before you know it and then you’re only one game away from Hampden. But we’ve got to take care of tonight first before we start thinking of anything else.”
