JUNIOR football was a big part of my life growing up so I know what Saturday’s Scottish Cup tie against us at Ross County will mean to Linlithgow Rose. As a New Cumnock boy I was brought up around that scene and Glenafton was my team.

I watched them regularly when I was a kid, saw them win the Junior Cup, and when I was older I would sometimes train with the team whenever I was back up the road from Chelsea.

Everyone from the village supported them, too. Whenever they got to semi-finals or finals, especially if it was at Rugby Park, the place would just empty as everyone wanted to be at the match.

I saw some battles, with bottles getting chucked on the park and the like, but I saw a lot of exciting matches as well. And it was the same throughout Ayrshire, especially the big rivalry between Cumnock Juniors and Auchinleck Talbot. People who don’t know the Juniors might not appreciate how significant these clubs are to their fans but it is a big deal. You only have to look at the size of some of their attendances to see that.

I’d expect Linlithgow to bring between 500 and 1000 fans to Dingwall next weekend, depending on their allocation. It will be a really difficult test for us, too. In the last round against Forfar they came back from 3-1 down to get a 3-3 draw with just 10 men.

Jim McIntyre and I were at the replay the other night when they beat Forfar 1-0 away from home. They are a decent side, with Graham Weir – the former Hearts striker who I had at Queen of the South – now playing in midfield, and Tommy Coyne’s son up front. We know they will see us as a major scalp so we will be nothing but completely meticulous in our build-up. We’ll prepare as if we’re playing a lower league team and, when you think about how hard Dunfermline made it for us in the previous round, then that gives you an indication of how focused we will be.

Linlithgow are the first Junior team to reach the last 16 of the Scottish Cup since they were first let in nine years ago but I don’t think they will be the last. Auchinleck gave Hearts a real scare a few years back and there are others with the quality to progress through the rounds in future years. You would say the Juniors are on a par with many of the senior lower league teams.

I know a lot of the clubs have been resistant to the prospect of joining the professional ranks but I think that’s more to do with the off-the-field changes they would have to make rather than any fears over whether they would be good enough. They would need to up their budgets and I think it suits them to keep playing against other Junior teams. They now have access to the Scottish Cup too which gives them a taste of it.

Saturday will be a great day out for Linlithgow and their fans but we have to make sure that that’s as far as it goes. We don’t want to become another big scalp so we won’t be underestimating them.

BEFORE then, of course, there is the small matter of today’s League Cup semi- final against Celtic at Hampden. It will be the reverse of next weekend, with us being the underdogs this afternoon. But we will go there full of confidence and genuinely believing we have what it takes to make the final.

Sometimes the mental side of things can be the hardest part of all. You’ll maybe look at a group of players and wonder whether they really believe they can upset the odds and beat the bigger team. But I think this group we’re working with have that belief in themselves.

There are guys like Michael Gardyne and Scott Boyd who played in the team that beat Celtic in the Scottish Cup semi six years ago. And there are other experienced guys like Paul Quinn, Richard Foster, and Andrew Davies who was in the Bradford team that won at Chelsea last year. So they have nothing to fear.

Our preparation this week hasn’t changed any. We usually stay in a hotel the night before we play league games in the Central Belt and that was the same for this one, too. This morning we’ll get up, have breakfast and take the players for a walk. They would have been told the team yesterday and then we would have done the final tactical and video work. We try not to give them too much on the day of a game as almost all our preparation should have been done by then. It allows the players to relax and focus on what is a massive match for us.

It’s now up to Jim and me to decide whether to really go for the jugular and attack Celtic, or play it a bit more cautious. Celtic are in great form and we need to acknowledge that. But we will go there believing we can knock them out and reach the final.

I’VE yet to meet anyone who thought Andy Halliday deserved his red card against Morton. In some ways it was daft for him getting involved and getting a booking but is this what it has come to? Standing in the middle of the park with a clenched fist? It wasn’t like he was right over at the home fans or inciting them. He wasn’t even in the middle of his own fans. I just hope this isn’t the road football is going to go down.