THE SCOTTISH CUP COUNTDOWN
AS a Rangersdaft kid Mark Shankland worshipped Barry Ferguson – so much so he named one of his wedding tables after the ex-Ibrox skipper. Not that it will stop him trying to inflict a messy Scottish Cup divorce on his hero and the Kelty side he now manages come tomorrow night. The Auchinleck attacker wed love of his life Alison in Ayr in June, days after a stunning season had ended. And Shankland said: “If you ask most Rangers fans my age, from when I was a young boy he’s the captain of the team that you love, the team you support, so it was a no-brainer for me.
“Then probably Barry Ferguson was the next biggest. All the players who played along with him – Peter Lovenkrands, Dado Prso, Nacho Novo, Fernando Ricksen, Sasa Papac – they were all table names.
“It’s good that he’s the opposition manager, somebody you admire as a BY ALAN ROBERTSON player but obviously you’re wanting to get one up on them as well.
“You’ve got to give him and Kelty the respect they deserve because they’re certainly a good side.”
Last season’s Scottish Cup run took Talbot past Championship side Ayr and all the way to Tynecastle as the junior giants reached the fifth round for the first time, losing 4-0 to Hearts.
Shankland added: “Kelty have spent a lot of money trying to get into the SPFL. They’ve signed a lot of good players, players who have played in the SPFL, won League Two, even players in the Championship.
“We know how difficult it’s going to be but on our day we can hurt any team – as we’ve proved before.
“It will give us the confidence knowing we’ve been able to do it before and against a top side in Ayr.
“It gives us confidence having playing against teams of this calibre before. We know on our day we’re good enough to compete with any of those teams.”