GORDON Pope is no ordinary postman. Back in January 2012, the Auchinleck Talbot defender so nearly delivered a replay for his side from a daunting William Hill Scottish Cup tie at Tynecastle, stabbing the ball beneath Hearts goalkeeper Jamie MacDonald only for it to be incorrectly ruled offside. Today, in what is sure to be a breathless battle down at Beechwood Park, he hopes to go one better by sending local rivals Ayr United out of the cup. And everyone knows the postman always rings twice.

“To say I was involved in that game is an understatement,” recalled Pope. “I gave away a penalty, which thankfully they missed, and then I scored a goal that was chalked off at the end. We had held Hearts off as long as we could and then they scored with six minutes left after a mistake from us.

“The chance at the end was a free-kick into the box when we had all piled into the box," he added. "It was cleared but we played it back in and I managed to get on the end of it to put it in the net. I still think I was onside at the time. I was absolutely raging about that decision.

“We took the third of fourth biggest away crowd through to Tynecastle that season, which was terrific and the fans loved it. This game is a chance for us to make up for that disappointment and it is just as big as the Hearts game. We have home advantage this time and I doubt Ayr have ever played on a tighter pitch than this one. We can play great football but we can do the dirty side of the game too, so no matter the type of game it becomes then we can handle it.”

As if this tie wasn’t tasty enough, Pope has some more past history he can bring to the party. Ayr United is one of three senior clubs the player has played for, winning a move to Somerset Park whilst they were under the charge of Mark Roberts in League One in 2013, only to subsequently return to Auchinleck. Having kept his job as a local postman on all the time, few know more about what this means to the local populace than he.

“I work all around this area so most of the fans know who I am,” said Pope. “The day the tickets went on sale I turned up just before it and the fans were already queueing up looking to secure their place at the game. That shows what it means to the fans of this club - they haven’t stopped talking about it. That is great to see because we are a real community club and the fans are brilliant here. When I go to some fans’ door I can’t get away from them as they want to stand a chat about the team but I love it.”

As it happens Pope has the good fortune to have booked the day off, otherwise he would have had to rehearse his usual Saturday ritual of doing a shift before playing 90 minutes. “I work most Saturdays so I do my job and then get myself to a game,” said Pope. “I get up at 5:45am and start at 6:30am every day. I’m not one of these people who can have an afternoon nap or anything, once I am up, I’m up. The other week I finished work at 12, drove straight to Irvine and then it was pretty much straight on to the park, but I love it. Thankfully I have been on holiday this week so I could prepare for the game.”

They may have re-written the record books in terms of Junior Cup wins, but Pope is well aware that winning this match would make legends of this Auchinleck team. As a one-off occasion, for him this probably trumps not only the Hearts match but four meetings with Rangers as they worked their way through the divisions. “Winning this game would be right up there in terms of the biggest wins of my career,” said Pope. “It is a sell-out, live on TV, something we don’t get to do and it is going to be amazing against my old club.

“I was there for a season but I kept my job as a postman going,” he added. “Mark Roberts was the manager of Ayr when I was there and Rangers were in the league that season. I played against them four times and it was amazing every time. The first game was at Somerset Park and it was live on Sky as well as being a sell-out. It was a real eye opener for me because I had never played at that level in the league before. Rangers brought thousands of fans as well and it was a special day even though we lost 2-0. Those experiences can help me in this type of game and hopefully I can help some of the younger lads. Only myself, our goalie Andy Leishman and Steven White are left from the team who played Hearts."

While Ayr - with the prolific and in-demand Lawrence Shankland missing the last two matches - have the midwinter blues with five games without a win, Auchinleck just keep doing what they do. Pope is just one part of these grandees of the Junior game who feel some of their magic would be lost by joining the senior ranks. "We might lose something if we went into the leagues," he said. "We could end up paying out more than we bring in. You then raise prices and that could drive fans away which is the last thing we would want to do.”

**Gordon Pope was speaking at William Hill media event. William Hill are the proud sponsors of the Scottish Cup