Ayr United’s Hibs daft full-back Eddie Malone is no stranger to Scottish Cup shocks and he will have no hesitation inflicting more Scottish Cup misery on the Edinburgh club when the sides meet in their Fourth Round replay at Somerset Park next Tuesday night.
Hibs have famously not won the competition since 1902 and despite his capital city allegiances, he does not mind if that run stretches to 109 years as he explained: “I have had some bad days following Hibs in the Scottish Cup myself and I am afraid I will be going all out to ensure they have another one at Ayr.”
Malone added: “With Rangers and Celtic playing each other and Hearts out, Hibs may just see a route to Hampden opening up but they will have to get by Ayr first and that will not be easy at our place.”
Malone, of course, achieved worldwide fame just over five years ago when he scored in Clyde’s famous 2-1 Scottish Cup win over a Celtic side that were giving a debut to Roy Keane.
As Malone says: “Celtic beat us 5-0 in the Scottish Cup the season before however, no-one ever asks me about that game.”
Malone’s route to facing his favourites next week started off at Perth, before stops at Cumbernauld, Paisley and Dundee where he was involved in another cup shock. This season has seen him don the colours for three different sides and whilst facing Hibs excites him, concentrating on the League match at Alloa tomorrow is his first objective.
The 25-year-old said: “I started off at Glenpark Boys Club, who later became Edinburgh City, and came to the attention of St. Johnstone when I was 13. I signed for them as a full-timer under Billy Stark when I was 17 and made my debut towards the end of the 2002/03 season.”
The stay in Perth lasted two seasons with Malone saying: “Billy had left and John Connolly came in and he wanted a more experienced pool of players as they pushed for promotion. Kevin Fotheringham came in from Clyde and I went in the other direction to join Billy Reid at Broadwood.”
It was exciting times for the Bully Wee with Malone saying: “We finished third in my first season in the First Division and were in with a chance of promotion right up until the end of the season.
“Graham Roberts and Joe Miller came in and, of course, they were in charge when we defeated Celtic in that Scottish Cup game.
“Craig Bryson scored with a header and then I sent home a volley.
“My name gets recognised more than my face and of course, whenever the Scottish Cup pops up, it gets a mention. Not that I mind, I would talk about it all day.”
Twelve months after ‘that’ goal, Malone stepped up to the SPL although the move never quite worked out as planned.
He said: “I left the following January to go to St. Mirren under Gus MacPherson but I never got to play as much as I would have liked. I was still only 21 and they were battling against relegation which was ultimately successful.
“The next season started off even worse as I spent five months out with a knee injury.
“I was then loaned out to Dundee who were a really good club to go to. We went close to promotion under Alex Rae but were beaten by Hamilton with the loss of a last minute goal to Partick Thistle in a game really hurting us.”
Jocky Scott took over as Manager in the autumn of 2008 and an exciting promotion chasing season was expected in season 2009/10 after considerable investment in the playing squad and those expectations were heightened after a 3-2 Co-operative Insurance Cup win over Aberdeen.
Malone was again on the scoresheet as he explained: “I scored with a header this time and we deserved to beat Aberdeen that night.
“We started off really well in the League but things began to fall away from us in February/March time.”
Gordon Chisholm came in to replace Scott however, he could not stop the charge of Inverness Caledonian Thistle up the table and the new Manager was determined to start the new campaign with a mostly new squad.
In total, 16 players including Malone were released, in what was a disappointing fashion with the player saying: “It felt like we were not told too much other than see you later. I had read the script well in advance and when stories started appearing in the newspapers, I knew what was coming.
“In fact, all the out of contract players knew what was coming and it was disappointing for things to end in the manner they did.”
Former boss Reid took Malone in for training at Hamilton Academical and he played in friendly games against Stirling Albion and Queen’s Park. Unfortunately, there was no deal forthcoming with Malone saying: “By the time the Hamilton period had ended, a lot of clubs had fixed themselves up with players and the budgets were ear-marked or spoken for.”
Malone found himself in demand at the end of August when Allan Moore gave him a chance in a game at Stark’s Park but it did not go as well as Malone had hoped.
He explained: “I played for Morton against Raith Rovers but did not do myself justice. I was thrown in at the deep end a wee bit as whilst I was physically fit, I was not match fit due to not playing competitively for a number of months.”
No offer was made and Malone then featured for Berwick Rangers in the Third Division.
Malone said: “That was a fortnight later and it turned into a good day for Berwick as they beat Arbroath 4-1 and a good day for me as I got 90 minutes under my belt.
“They were really keen to sign me but they were up front enough to say that the terms would not be great.
“They train in Edinburgh so everything was good that way but I would be an additional signing to their squad and there was little money left so I was on the lookout elsewhere as well.”
Ayr boss Brian Reid then got in touch about moving to Somerset Park and that move has worked out.
“Ayr are in the Second Division just now,” said Malone before adding: “However, after speaking to Brian, I know they are really determined to get back up to the First Division quickly and that really appealed to me as well.”
The Honest Men won the first three games Malone played in and he even found the time to notch his first goal against leaders Livingston as Ayr won 3-1.
Four wins in their last five League games is beginning to ignite talk of a promotion push from more than Manager Reid however, feet are firmly planted on the ground or should that be sand at Ayr.
Malone said: “We had been playing well and had a good 5-0 win over Sunnybank in the Scottish Cup as well until the weather worsened. Even training was difficult and Brian took us all down to Ayr beach one Saturday morning and that was an experience with the wind blowing in your face certainly wakening you up.
“We had one bounce game and then took on Dumbarton in the League before facing Hibs in the cup and it was a bit of a dream for me as I had only ever played as a substitute in a reserve game at Easter Road before.”
There were plenty of familiar faces supporting Malone (and ironically Hibs) at the first cup tie as he explained: “I had 30 friends and family at the first game at Easter Road and they had to cheer at both ends and it will be the same at the replay.
“We could have won it with the chances that Ryan McCann and then Andy Rodgers had.
“I thought the one from Andy was in and was away to start celebrating when their goalkeeper stuck out a hand to turn the ball away.
“We would probably have taken a draw beforehand but we may have just sneaked it and Hibs may now feel that they have a point to prove in the replay.”
Come this Saturday, cup glory will be pushed to the side for the time being as Ayr look to complete a second win of the season over Alloa.
Malone reckons Alloa boss Allan Maitland will have his men fired up for the game saying: “Alloa will be out for revenge for our win which was a bit fortunate as they were the better team.
“All my concentration is on Alloa just now and I will start thinking about Hibs again come Saturday evening.”
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