Famous rivalry will be renewed in the Scottish Cup

Tayport’s home Superleague match against Downfield was postponed at the weekend with the Canniepairt surface was deemed unplayable following the heavy rainfall towards the end of last week.
Jamie MackieJamie Mackie
Jamie Mackie

The old rivals don’t have long to wait before their first meeting of the season though, as they are scheduled to meet on Saturday in a Macron Scottish Junior Cup tie, at Downfield Park.

There is sure to be a great deal of local interest in the tie, as the Scottish Junior Cup retains a huge amount of prestige and a run to the latter stages of the national competition is always welcome.

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However, this Saturday’s fixture cannot quite live up to the 1993 meeting, when the sides met in the quarter-finals.

Drama and tension abounded as the Tayside Region’s top two teams became involved in a three match saga, the conclusion of which was the last ever Scottish Junior Cup tie to be settled by a third game at a neutral venue.

The matches were all obviously tight affairs, finally settled in Tayport’s favour by a Dave Reilly goal at North End Park.

What is most remarkable about that time was that each of the three games was watched by a crowd of around 2000.

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Those days, sadly, have gone, and a couple of hundred spectators would be a decent attendance for this latest instalment in the rivalry, but the match is sure to be an intriguing one.

Downfield’s form has been better so far this season, although ‘Port do have a good recent record against the Spiders and Chris McPherson will be hoping that his players can rise to the challenge and produce a winning performance tomorrow afternoon.

If McPherson has all of his attacking options available then Tayport will certainly fancy their chances as Dayle Robertson is one of the most prolific strikers in the East Region and others, such as Jamie Mackie and Jamie Gill are more than capable of weighing in too.

Defensively, Tayport do need to tighten up, but the coaching staff will have been working hard on this.