Benny even took a turn in goals to help the Dons
It’s the time of the season when teams start losing players due to suspension.
Young players often get a game in the absence of more-experienced team-mates.
There are rising stars all over the country, desperate for the opportunity to prove their worth.
Benny McCabe was a youngster keen to make his mark at Aberdeen in 1967.
He even volunteered to turn out as a goalkeeper after making his top-team debut for the Dons at centre-half.
His first match was a 5-2 win against Ayr United at Somerset Park.
That came because Tommy McMillan – a virtual ever-present – was suspended and Benny lined-up alongside Danish import Jens Petersen at the back.
He said: “It was exciting to make the first-team at Aberdeen.
“I was quite a laid-back guy who just wanted to play football.
“Even after I retired from the professional game I carried on turning out on a Sunday morning to keep fit.
“They would just be games with local lads, but I loved the game.”
The remainder of the 1966-67 season was completed without another chance for Benny.
There was a revolution going on at the Dons under Eddie Turnbull and they reached the Scottish Cup Final, losing 2-0 to Celtic in front of a crowd of 126,102.
Benny was playing in the reserves alongside players like Ernie McGarr, Jim Hermiston, Davie Robb, Ian Taylor and Martin Buchan.
He said: “You could tell Martin was going to be a top player when you were in the same side as him.
“Maybe I didn’t realise how big a star he would turn out to be, but he definitely had the quality that was going to take him a long way.”
It was later that year that Benny lined up between the sticks.
It’s something that’s highly unlikely to happen in modern-day football.
Aberdeen found themselves without a reserve team goalie when Bobby Clark was away with Scotland and Ernie McGarr took his place.
Benny recalled: “There was supposed to be a trialist coming to play in the game against Hearts. But he didn’t turn up.
“I volunteered to stand in as the keeper. “The game finished as a 2-2 draw, so it didn’t go too badly. But I made sure I never went anywhere near the goals again!
“I spent five years with Aberdeen and really enjoyed my time there.
“I thought Eddie Turnbull was a very good manager.
“There wasn’t a massive gap between the reserves and the first team.
“Unfortunately, I was called in for a chat in 1969 and told I wasn’t being offered a new contract.
“I had met my wife in Aberdeen and would happily have stayed there.
“I would even have remained in the city if a Highland League club had made me an offer.
“But we didn’t have agents back then and you really had to find your own future.
“Harry Melrose – who I’d played with at Pittodrie – took over as manager of Berwick Rangers and approached me with an offer .
“It meant leaving full-time football for parttime. But I was just keen to carry on playing.”
Benny played more than 200 times for The Borderers over a seven-year period.
He said: “We trained a couple of evenings a week in Dalkeith. But travelling up and down to Berwick from my home in West Lothian began to get a bit much.
“That’s why I agreed to a swap deal to join Alloa in 1976.”
Now 71, Benny spent 30 years working for Royal Mail.
Although it’s nearly 52 years since he was the talk of the Aberdeen players for taking a stint in goal, he’s still in touch with old team-mates like