As Paul McGinn, the young Dumbarton defender, is attacking down the right-hand side at Pittodrie tomorrow, he might allow himself to think about what else might have been on Aberdeen's turf.
When McGinn was at Queen's Park a couple of years ago, he was one of the hottest properties of the lower leagues before an injury slowed down his progress.
Without that setback, he could have been a regular at Pittodrie after coming close to signing for the club in the summer of 2012.
"There was strong interest from Aberdeen at the end of that season," the 23-year-old explained. "I had a long chat with the manager at the time, Craig Brown, about me going up there to play. The assistant manager at Queen's Park was Bobby Dickson and he had been a player for Craig at Clyde in the 1980s. He tipped Aberdeen off about me and talks had started.
"It was all set up for me to go up and join Aberdeen for pre-season training. If I impressed then I would have joined them."
Fate, though, stepped in to deny McGinn the opportunity. "Unfortunately in Queen's Park's final game of the season against Stranraer in the play-offs I injured my knee," he said. "I needed an operation and that meant I missed the opportunity to go up and take things further. My team-mate at Dumbarton Mitch Megginson used to play there and he is always going on about them.
"He is still a fan but he will push that aside this weekend. This is a very big game in my career and I am looking forward to it."
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