AT the age of 26, Jim McAlister is too young to be burdened by career regrets over what might have been.
The Hamilton utility man goes into today's Ramsdens Cup final against Falkirk at Almondvale desperate to kickstart a career which has yet to fully pay out on its potential. Despite a couple of league winner's medals with Morton – the 2002-03 Third Division, and Second Division in 2006-07 – the Rothesay-born player has had no shortage of Sliding Doors-style incidents in his footballing life. After being linked with Rangers and Blackburn as a teenager, McAlister was priced out of a move to Motherwell in 2008, then in 2009 he had an unsuccessful trial at Watford before declining the opportunity to pursue a deal with Champions League luminaries Unirea Urziceni.
However unfairly, even his previous involvement with this trophy defines him as a nearly man; today is his first final, having lost out four times in the semi-finals.
Despite once humbling Rangers 4-1 at Ibrox, Unirea are now defunct, but a move to Translyvania would have been quite an adventure. "It was pretty close," McAlister said. "I spent the day with them in Glasgow. To even sit and have an hour's conversation with Dan Petrescu and talk about football was overwhelming. You do sometimes think 'what if', but I'm the kind of person who looks forward, not back."
McAlister started out as a striker in the Morton youth team, but has yet to score in Hamilton colours, even though he has been an ever-present this season. OK, so he has spent this season deputising in all manner of different positions, but today would be a good a time to break his duck. McAlister said: "My last one was for Morton against Partick Thistle two years ago.
"I played as a striker in the youth team at Morton, but every year I am getting further and further back. I don't think I've ever played as many different positions in one season as this one. But the manager says he knows he can trust me to do a job, whether it is right-back, left-back, middle of the park, wherever really. It is always nice to hear that."
Thankfully, someone has been scoring for Hamilton. Billy Reid's side have bagged 10 goals and conceded just one in their last three outings, while Falkirk have lost four of their last five, but cup finals don't always conform to the form book.
This is McAlister's first major final, although he did play in a few junior shinty finals as a schoolboy growing up on Bute. "We had a successful team, but once I went into secondary school I gave it up," he said.
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