The biggest challenge that Stephen Welsh may face when it comes to Celtic’s Scottish Cup tie with Buckie Thistle this weekend – with all due respect to his cousin, Josh Peters, who plays up front for the Highland League side – is getting enough tickets to accommodate his extended family.

The whole clan seem to be coming down to Celtic Park tomorrow to witness the clash of the cousins they thought might never take place, with Welsh likely to start for the competition holders and Peters hoping to lead the line for plucky Buckie.

But family fealty will be left firmly at the white line, with Welsh warning Peters and his teammates that the Glasgow giants will be giving their visitors no quarter whatsoever.

“He’s a cousin on my mum’s side of the family, my auntie’s son,” Welsh said.

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“He was at Hibs at reserve level then went to Livingston before he moved back up north to play with Elgin, then Buckie.

“I don’t think we ever actually expected to play against each other at any level, so to do it in the Scottish Cup is exciting.

“The family are buzzing and they’re all coming to the game. I’ve got my usual three or four coming in terms of mum, dad, the missus. The other part of the family are all coming down as well.

“I watched the draw and there were only a few teams left. I think he saw that us and Rangers were still in the draw.

“When it came out I dropped him a text and you saw the video of the Buckie lads, buzzing.

“We did an interview over at the stadium the other day and I think he was a bit nervous looking around the place. But, no, he’s sound. He was alright.

“For us, as professionals, we are coming to play a game of football and we both want to win it.

“It’s a great tie for us but for us it’s business as usual. We are going out to retain the Scottish Cup again.”

As much as Peters might never have expected to play at Celtic Park, the Celtic fans may not have expected to see Welsh back in action quite so soon after going off against Rangers at the tail end of December with what looked like a nasty shoulder injury.

Thankfully for Welsh, he has enjoyed a rare bit of good fortune on the injury front, something he hopes can continue.

“It’s fine,” he said.

“I got a bit of a scare in the Rangers game but it turned out not to be as bad as we first thought.

“The break definitely helped and having that week off after the St Mirren game. I’m back in training and available for selection.

“It’s felt like one thing after another. I got a bad injury at the start of the season and needed to have a wee operation.

“That costs me four or five months, but I got fit and got into the team again, and was doing pretty well until that happened against Rangers.

“It wasn’t even muscle injuries – it was freak injuries out of nowhere you can’t do much about.

“It’s obviously tough at the time and the journey back is hell. But you get through the other side and hopefully over the next few months I can stay clear of injury and get a run of games.”

While Welsh may not have played as much as he would have liked this season due to those various ailments, he has been delighted to have been trusted by manager Brendan Rodgers at times in big matches despite the stiff competition in the centre-back position.

“The gaffer has been brilliant with me since he came back in,” he said.

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“When I heard in the summer he was coming back to us, it was a surprise, given the level he’s been at, but I was delighted.

“I was just a young lad when he was here last time and I didn’t get to actually play. But I trained a good few times under him and you could see the level was so high.

“It’s great he trusted me to go out and play after being out for so long, and it’s great to have that backing behind me. It definitely helps.”