TWO second division teams who have a place in Scottish Cup history
will be battling for a quarter-final place this afternoon at Gayfield.
Confusion may be the home team's strategy, for East Fife are likely to
spot a number of Danny McGrain lookalikes in Arbroath, town of the
bearded teenagers.
Danny's Bearded Army is the title adopted by a group of local
youngsters who wear false beards and support the team managed by the
one-time Celtic star. They may look like him, but I bet the northern
teenagers can't imitate his voice.
With some excitement having been generated by McGrain's arrival at
Gayfield, the fans consider that a brief encounter with the big time is
not far away. For encouragement, they will recall that McGrain's first
game in charge resulted in a 3-1 victory at Methil in November, which
was precise revenge for a home defeat two months earlier.
Two one-time team-mates at St Johnstone, Arbroath's Charlie Adam and
the visitors' Willie Brown, scored in that first encounter but will not
do so today. They are both suspended and, being good mates, are likely
to watch the match together. However, they are fiery characters and,
given the importance of the occasion, it is to be hoped that they don't
become too excited, fall out, and end up being the first players to be
booked while banned and sitting in the stand.
This tie pits the scorers of the Scottish Cup record -- Arbroath won
36-0 over Bon Accord in 1885 -- against East Fife, the only team to have
won the cup while in the second division, a feat they achieved in 1938.
More recently, Arbroath have scored late goals in their past couple of
games, which suggests that they are a 90-minute team, and they go into
this battle in better heart than the Fifers, who slumped to a 3-0 defeat
at Berwick last week.
Manager Gavin Murray said: ''That was a poor performance, but when we
play well, we're the best in the division. I'm really looking forward to
the game. Anything can happen in the cup.'' As well as Brown, Fife
defender Tom Spence also is banned for this tie.
Also suspended today is Alloa's Barrie Moffat, who was sent off in the
midweek win at Stenhousemuir and thus misses the league game at home to
Queen of the South.
Forfar, who went to Brechin in midweek and became the first visiting
team to win at the leaders' ground, should move nearer the top by
beating visitors Albion Rovers.
The most significant clash is at Hamilton, where second-top Clyde are
hosts to Stranraer, who have the same points total but have played two
games more.
Queen's Park hauled themselves off the bottom of the division for 16
minutes on Tuesday night, but Paul Friar's equaliser for East
Stirlingshire put the Spiders back at the foot.
While 'Shire are busy on cup duty, Queen's could move up to
third-bottom place if they beat Montrose and if Albion Rovers lose at
Forfar. The Hampden game kicks off at 2pm.
* THE match today between Berwick Rangers and Brechin City will kick
off early at 2.30pm because of floodlight failure at Shielfield Park.
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