Former Kilby manager Billy Ogilive relives the glory

Billy Ogilvie wandered down the tunnel at the Excelsior Stadium last year truly believing his East Kilbride side would walk off the pitch victorious.

And while Kilby ended up losing that Scottish Cup fifth round clash 2-0 to Glasgow giants Celtic, 12 months on from that momentous occasion the former K-Park gaffer has no doubt East Kilbride were the real winners.

This Tuesday (February 7) marks one year since the Lowland League minnows contested the ultimate David versus Goliath contest and came out with their heads held high.

A controversial Leigh Griffiths goal, courtesy of a handball, and a Colin Kazim-Richards strike proved the difference for the Scottish champions.

The match was moved to the Excelsior Stadium in Airdrie with EK’s K-Park home deemed unsuitable to host a tie of such magnitude.

That didn’t stop almost 4000 Kilby fans heading to North Lanarkshire to support Ogilvie’s men on a bitterly cold Sunday afternoon.

By the end of it, there was a huge sense of pride in East Kilbride’s performance as the part-timers played with fire in their bellies and surprised everyone with their valiant defensive display against Ronny Deila’s Hoops.

Joiners, teachers and students went toe-to-toe with millionaire professionals and there was no disgrace in the result.

But as the News caught up with the man who orchestrated EK’s fairytale run to the last 16, Ogilvie revealed there was a genuine belief within the squad that they could pull off a giant-killing.

The 56-year-old said:“I’ve got nothing but great memories of that day.

“Walking up the tunnel at the start of the game the noise was incredible. Every end was full, flags and scarves were waving, the fans were chanting and singing – it was just an unbelievable feeling.

“And the players embraced that. They used that energy to their advantage as much as we could.

“The game was more than we imagined it would be. “I had goosebumps. “Even Gardner Speirs (Ogilvie’s assistant) who has a lot of managerial experience and been to bigger stadiums than I have, couldn’t believe it.

“He’d never felt the kind of togetherness EK had that day. He knew it was one to savour.

“And I swear to you, we believed we could win the game.

“When I got the knock on the door for the Celtic team lines coming in, I took a look at it and it was as strong as ever.

“Leigh Griffiths, Scott Brown, Kieran Tierney, James Forrest, Dedryk Boyata – they didn’t put out their reserves.

“But I took the team sheet and I threw it down on the bench and said to the players:‘That doesn’t worry me’.

“I said it’s about what we do, go and show the whole of Scotland and the UK how good we are.

“That was the confidence I had in my players.

“We were in the dressing room truly believing we could beat them.

“Celtic weren’t on a great run at that time and they’d just lost to Ross County in the League Cup, so we believed we could win.

“I’ve never taken a team into a game expecting to lose and that