It is 40 years since Kirkcudbright last saw the likes. In 1967, soon to be crowned European Cup winners Celtic pitched up at St Mary's Park for a run-out against St Cuthbert Wanderers, the south of Scotland side. Eight hundred turned out then, but there was more than double that on Saturday when Pollok Juniors, and their boisterous caravan, pitched up for their historic Scottish Cup first round tie.

Technically, that makes the Glasgow side more popular than the Lisbon Lions; well, among the denizens of Kirkcudbright, at least.

No matter where the road to Hampden takes them, Pollok won't be required to travel much further than this. A 200-mile round trip to the quaint fishing village was like a journey into another world.

St Mary's Park surely ranks as one of the most picturesque settings in Scottish football. Trees border the pitch and the Solway Firth glints invitingly in the background. Together with the splendid local catering, it was almost enough to make the business of football seem like a side-issue.

Not that Pollok were there to soak in the pastoral delights of this little corner of Scotland. The junior side have waited an age to be allowed entry to the Scottish Cup. Now that they are here, they are on a mission to prove the quality of the junior game. Along-with Linlithgow Rose and Culter, they are standard-bearers. It is a responsibility they have taken on with relish and, on Saturday, one which provided them with a motivational tool for their comprehensive victory.

"The build-up this week has been big and the pressure can get to players, but they showed determination and character to get the result," said Rab Sneddon, the Pollok manager. "You saw the support we brought with us and if we could get a home tie there would be a full house at Newlandsfield."

The chance to make history explains why they started the game like a team possessed. After seven minutes it was 1-0, after 16 minutes they had added another. By the half-hour mark, St Cuthbert defender Rodney Niven had lumped two clearances into the Solway Firth in an effort to kill time. In the early stages, it looked as though Pollok might run up a cricket score.

Robert Downs added another after the interval but then a strange thing happened. Clarke Chambers charged down a kick-out from Kris Robertson, the Pollok goalkeeper, to pull one back, then David McGeown looped a header past his own goalkeeper to make it 3-2.

Suddenly, we had a cup tie on our hands. Suitably chastened, Pollok upped their game and McGeown atoned for his error three minutes later when he planted a meaty header into the net at the right end.

It opened the floodgates for Pollok's late strikes.

"It was the first own goal of my career and some of their team were giving me stick on the way back to the centre, so I enjoyed the celebration even more when I scored and I was able to give them a bit of verbal back," said McGeown.

McGeown was at Hearts' for four years under Craig Levein and John Robertson but was released and headed Down Under. "I wasn't in the plans so I went to Australia to play with Paul McMullan, who I knew from Hearts. I went to play in the first division for a team called Sorrento," he said.

"I came back when the season finished. One of my mates at Hearts, Robert Sloan who is at Raith Rovers now, got me in with Alloa. We had a good Scottish Cup run then, when we put Livingston out of the cup at Almondvale."

McGeown drifted away from the game for a while, but has re-discovered his enthusiasm under Sneddon. "I took a break a couple of seasons ago. I was getting fed up with football, but Rab has helped me get my hunger back. I'm 23, I've not given up hope of playing where I was but, just now, I want to be happy where I'm playing."