During the 1990s, SFL Managers would break out in a cold sweat at the prospect of facing Highland League Huntly in the Scottish Cup at their Christie Park ground however, their Manager, Dave McGinlay, reckons those days are gone now as he said: "At that time, we had a European Cup Winners' Cup winner in our side and a player that played over 200 League games in what was the Second Division in England and we just don't have that now.
"We were blessed to have big Doug Rougvie, who was part of the Aberdeen side that won so much under Sir Alex Ferguson, looking after our defence and Stevie Lennox, who had starred in England, setting up goals for Martin Stewart. We were very strong then as can be seen by the results we had."
McGinlay himself was part of a squad that knocked out Dumbarton, Stranraer, Queen of the South, Albion Rovers, held Clyde to a draw before losing in extra-time in the replay and pushed Dundee United and Airdrieonians all the way in cup ties during the decade.
"We had a spell when teams would have been worried about coming here as we were a right good side although we did get a bit of a doing at Hearts," said McGinlay before explaining, "Everything had been going well for the first 25 minutes and the crowd was beginning to turn and then they scored. John Robertson turned it into a bit of a gala day by scoring his two hundredth goal for Hearts and they ended up giving us a bit of a doing."
As Huntly's powers waned after their decade of success and Inverness became the brightest light in the north following the creation of Inverness Caledonian Thistle, McGinlay was one of the players brought in by Steve Paterson to allow them to prosper at senior level.
McGinlay said: "My own career was spent mostly in the Highland League where I tended to follow Steve around. We went from Elgin where we were very successful and also at Huntly where we carved out that reputation in the Scottish Cup. I also had spells playing in New Zealand and Hong Kong but I had too many injuries to have a career at senior level."
The period that the pair had at Inverness brought another moment in the sun in the Scottish Cup as McGinlay explained: "During my playing days, Inverness Caledonian Thistle reached the last eight of the Scottish Cup for the first time ever in March 1996. We played Rangers at Tannadice as the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium was getting built then and it was the highlight of my career as it was a Rangers team full of superstars with Brian Laudrup, Ally McCoist and Paul Gascoigne."
Whilst some fans will remember the game for the kiss between McCoist and Gascoigne after the former English internationalist had scored, McGinlay remembers the game for the slightly less than loving feeling directed to his brother John. The Scottish internationalist popped up to take in the game and went along with two Rangers supporting cousins and sat in amongst the 'away' fans in Dundee.
McGinlay, of course, was well known as a Scotland international and Bolton Wanderers footballer as well as a supporter of Celtic and the Huntly boss saw him sitting uncomfortably saying: "I was warming up and saw him sitting with his jacket almost covering his face to hide his embarrassment. I managed to get him moved in with the Inverness fans however, that was perhaps not such a great call as he got plenty of boos as he walked around the track to join them."
Ironically, in the November of that year, everyone was cheering the Bolton man at, of all places, Ibrox when he scored the only goal of a crucial World Cup qualifier against Sweden with Huntly's McGinlay saying: "A lot of people remember Jim Leighton having an amazing game that day but I prefer to remember John scoring with Scotland's only shot at goal.
"John is now in Connecticut looking after a soccer school that has something like 220 teams in it. That may sound pretty far away but the football world is a small one if you consider Owen Coyle was part of the Airdrieonians team that beat us in1992 and he went on to play with John at Bolton whilst Gardner Speirs, who will be in the opposite dug-out to me on Saturday, was the Manager of the Clyde side that won in a Scottish Cup replay."
Speirs also had a spell in the north of Scotland as Assistant Manager at nearby Aberdeen and McGinlay is sure that the Hampden Head Coach has been looking up some old friends as he said: "Having been up here for a few years, Gardner will know about the club and I am sure he has had somebody out watching us in recent games. He will have used his sources up here to tell him about our squad."
Speirs briefing notes will centre around a Huntly side that has a new look this season with McGinlay saying: "It has been a bit of a roller-coaster in the last 18 months at the club. I left and they brought in John Teasdale and that never worked out so Steve Paterson came back in and then he left for Formartine. He took six of Huntly's players with him so it was a re-building job when I was asked to come back."
McGinlay does not dwell long on the situation that saw him take his employers to court for unfair dismissal six months after leaving and six months before coming back earlier this year saying only: "That was one of those things and I suppose it looks a bit strange but it is all about ensuring this squad of players knit together now. A couple of supporters stepped in to help pay for players to join us and that was great and we also picked up a lad that was due to join Stirling Albion but he decided to come up to Aberdeen University and play here.
"Our squad is full of young players that did not make the grade at places like Ross County or Inverness Caley and we are giving them a platform. It is a far cry from having Doug Rougvie playing but they have a strong work ethic and we have improved throughout the season."
McGinlay added: "I also brought Andrzej-Slawomir Kleczkowski back to the club after a couple of years away. His fitness is improving all the time and when he is fully fit, he is as good as any striker in the Highland League and if it was not for geography, he would be a SFL frontman.
"A Scottish Cup run in the manner we had two decades ago would be great. We have not budgeted for any income from progressing in the cup so it literally would be a bonus to progress and allow me to look at the playing budget and the club to pay off some debts."
It is not all about money to McGinlay who said: "The Scottish Cup is a time for fairy tales, for romance if you want, and you do not get much more romantic than playing Queen's Park with all their heritage and tradition in the competition."
Last season, Queen's Park went out at this stage to a Bo'ness United side that had several former senior professionals including one, Derek Fleming, that had played more games than a young Spiders starting XI and McGinlay's side does not have that edge as he explained: "It is not a surprise to hear that Queen's lost to Bo'ness as Junior sides are very strong at the moment. We played Auchinleck Talbot recently and they were full of players that could have been playing senior but there was more money available at the Juniors."
The Huntly boss has done his homework saying: "I have managed to get a DVD of a recent game and a contact has given me a list of player profiles so we have a lot of good information. They are ahead of Peterhead in the table so they must be a good side as the Blue Toon have a strong squad of players.
"I used to coach there with Stevie so I know how strong the SFL Second and Third Divisions are. We will not go overboard into them as it is more important to concentrate on us."
One thing the Glasgow side will need to be ready for is a surface that is not as pleasing as the one at the National Stadium with McGinlay saying: "It will not be a Hampden surface and that may help us as one thing they like to do is spray passes about. It has been cutting up this week so it could be a bit of a slog but we like to play football too so we do not want a total mud heap.
"Some of the boys are saying they would really fancy a replay and playing at Hampden but I have told them to forget that as I want to leave Hampden until we are in the Final!"
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