Everybody loves a cup giant-killing don’t they? Part-timers coming off a shift in the local factory and putting their bodies on the line to keep out the highly-paid professionals.
It is classic romance of the cup and every year, it throws up heroic tales of Davids slaying Goliaths which captivate the nation and give rival fans a right good laugh in the process.
So it came to pass on Monday night as Darvel of the sixth tier dumped the seven time winners Aberdeen out of the Scottish Cup after a 1-0 victory.
But while social media has been ablaze with well-deserved congratulatory messages to the Ayrshire side, spare a thought for the 700 or so of us Aberdeen fans who had to witness it first hand in the cold.
Read more: Jim Goodwin 'embarrassed and humiliated' after Aberdeen defeat to Darvel
Recreation Park can best be described as compact and the club spent around £50,000 sprucing it up for the TV cameras. Locals were hemmed in everywhere while the Aberdeen fans were placed on a temporary muddy bank built specially for the occasion. At least it wasn’t raining.
Just a week previously we had been at Hampden going toe to toe with Rangers but this was a whole different ball game as we had to go through the full range of emotions - and a few back lanes and gardens en route to the ground.
It started with trepidation and fear to sheer, blind panic after Darvel scored.
The small Ayrshire town probably hasn’t heard such a roar since famous resident Alexander Fleming came back from holiday and found some mould in a dish and realised he could do something useful with it.
But it wasn’t penicillin we needed – it was smelling salts as the clock seemed to speed up alarmingly after the goal.
Some people got angry, most just gave a resigned shrug while one or two just laughed at the absurdity of it all. Most of us were in shock and probably will be for some time.
A mood of surreal numbness hung heavy in the air as we all realised that we really were getting knocked out of the cup by a Junior team and there was not a thing that any of us could do about it.
Stats were reeled off amongst the fans to highlight the gulf that existed between the two clubs and the gallows humour picked up pace as the players huffed and puffed and didn’t really do much else.
It was a gut-wrenching experience but bizarrely quite enjoyable too – this was history and we all knew it – we all knew it as soon as Darvel scored and there was still more than an hour to go.
Trepidation gave way to anger, which in turn gave way to frustration and finally resignation as the clock ticked down on our Scottish Cup bid. With 20 minutes to go, we all felt a little bit sick as the inevitability of it all sunk in.
There really was nothing else to do but laugh at the ludicrousness of it all – even if it cost us £18 each to be humiliated on a cold Monday night in a place very few Aberdeen fans had even heard of.
Read more: The worrying trend of fan disorder at sporting events has to stop
They certainly do now.
To be frank, the players and manager are an absolute disgrace as they fell into the trap of not respecting Darvel enough and got what they deserved.
The only highlight for Aberdeen fans really were the cheeseburgers from a bespoke catering van brought in for the occasion - £5.50 and in a toasted brioche too. If the Aberdeen players had shown half the class of the burger then they would have been ok.
Darvel were worthy winners and good luck to them in the next round and in their league title race.
The only consolation for me is that I didn’t have a four and a half hour trip back up to Aberdeen after the game.
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