Albion Rovers in the William Hill Scottish Cup in February is an exciting adventure for everyone connected with the Coatbridge club and they have the chance to extend their journey even further by seeing off Stenhousemuir at Cliftonhill this weekend.
Full back Alan Reid has seen more lows than high in the Cup during his six seasons at the club and he is hoping to finally reach a quarter final place after exits against, amongst others, a fine Ross County side a Sunnybank side that still cause nightmares to Reid and co.
Reid talked through his Cup journeys with the Rovers saying:
2008-2009 – That Scottish Cup run was typical of Albion Rovers at that time. We went away from home to Berwick Rangers and won 2-1 and then lost at home by the same score to Queen’s Park.
We would have built ourselves up on the bus going to Berwick for a really tough game and went out and won it. We then had a game at Cliftonhill against a side, who were in the league above us, but struggling and we never got going.
We were two goals down and pulled one back but that was us out in what was a winnable tie.
2009 – 2010
That was an okay year and probably the best run we have had until now because we lasted until January. We went up to Highland League Lossiemouth in the Second Round and that was a difficult tie. It was a hard, cold venue with the fans that were there were right on top of us.
The park was in poor condition but we won 2-0 and I remember Bobby Barr scored one of the goals and Pat Walker grabbed the other.
We then beat Elgin 1-0 with Jamie Pollock scoring on the day that the terrible winter weather of that period started to come in.
The game in the next round against Stirling Albion was postponed until a midweek slot and when it was played it ended 0-0. The conditions were terrible as the pitch was only just playable and froze over during the game.
We lost the replay 3-1 and I remember that game well as I missed it due to injury which is unlike me. I have been very lucky throughout my career with injuries but I missed out on that game.
Stirling played Ross County in the next round and lost 9-0 so in a way we could maybe look upon the Stirling defeat as a blessing in disguise.
2010 – 2011
The Sunnybank game!
I remember it well but to be honest losing to the junior side from Aberdeen was a bit of a freakish afternoon. We played them at Cliftonhill and we actually played alright but we just could not score.
Their goalkeeper had a world class day and saved everything. We had 4 or 5 chances that we should have scored from but a combination of poor finishing and their goalkeeping kept us out.
They had one big punt up the park and scored from it. That was that and then they just threw bodies in the way of everything after that.
It was a horrible day and afterwards our manager Paul Martin, who was really unhappy with the result, ended up offering to resign.
His offer was not accepted and when you consider that is the season we ended up getting promoted via the play-offs it was a good job that his offer was not accepted.
2011-2012
We had a really tough draw a couple of years ago as we had to travel to play Ross County away. It was the season that they romped away with the First Division title. We lost 4-0 and to be honest they played great football and we did well to keep it to the four.
Michael Gardyne was on fire during that game and he scored a hat-trick. He could have had more and if we had ended up with a result like the Stirling Albion one up there we could not have complained too much
2012-2013
We were drawn with Morton at home and it was a side that we knew well. We had played them in a pre-season friendly and also started the season against them in the Ramsdens Cup. They were top of the First Division when they came to Cliftonhill but we took the led through a Tony Stevenson goal before half time however Peter Weatherson levelled.
We went to Cappielow in the replay and got a bit of a chasing in the second half as they won 3-0. It was goalless at half-time however their pitch is a terrific one and they passed the ball around us as we tired.
2013-2014
This is the best Scottish Cup run I have enjoyed. We have the chance to get to the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup which is terrific for Albion Rovers. We have won our three ties 1-0 to get here although the third game was very different to the first two.
We beat Spartans and Deveronvale and to be honest the winning margins could have been bigger. However after the Sunnybank result you cannot complain about getting through.
The third success was a bit different as that was against a Motherwell side that were second in the Premiership table at the time. The game was our home one and it was played at New Douglas Park and we went out with the game plan of keeping the ball as much as we could. We did that well and to be honest Motherwell did not attack us too much.
They had some chances towards the end of the game but not too many before that. Of course Garry Phillips scored our goal in the final minute and we had to hold on for 3 minutes of injury time.
It was the longest 3 minutes of my life.
I won promotion with Rovers in 2011 down at Annan in the play-offs however this felt different. Back then we were 3-1 up from the first leg and then scored down there through Ciaran Donnelly. We were cruising or at least thought we were.
They scored once and then twice and things were heating up but we saw things through and that was a great feeling as well. That was probably a better achievement than defeating Motherwell as it represented a years work.
However the Motherwell game was still a feeling of great elation as we had beaten a Premiership side. That result did bring a lot more exposure than winning promotion did.
Opposed to a couple of pages in the Coatbridge and Airdrie Advertiser we were in the national press for days and here I am talking about it again.
The result gave us a real boost and we had a spring in our step for a few games afterwards and got some decent results mind you Motherwell have done really well since that result as well.
Albion Rovers v Stenhousemuir February, 8 2014
To continue their run further Reid and his team-mates may need to keep a former Coatbridge favourite quiet as he explained: “We could face John Gemmell who was a big figure when he was a striker with us. He has been carrying an injury so I am not sure if he will play but if he does he will be a big player for Stenhousemuir.”
“He is a great player to have on your team and has scored goals wherever he goes.”
Reid added: “However we have the chance of a quarter-final place and that is really exciting and a great motivation for us - it does not normally happen to Albion Rovers. “
“We had gone three years without a run in the competition so to still be in the Scottish Cup come February is really good we have normally lost our place by Christmas.”
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