Ross County defender Scott Boyd is preparing for the unexpected novelty of playing against some of his childhood friends when the Staggies host junior side Linlithgow Rose in today’s William Hill Scottish Cup fifth-round tie.
Boyd grew up in Whitburn, just 10 miles away from Linlithgow, with the 29-year-old coming through the youth ranks at nearby Livingston.
Having been located in the Highlands with County since his move north from Partick Thistle in 2007, Boyd is the Dingwall club’s longest-serving player.
He still maintains close contact with his friends near home, however, with some of them set to line up for a Rose side looking to pull off a shock result at Victoria Park today.
Boyd said: “I’ve grown up with Colin Leiper since I was in primary school. He was at my wedding and I’ve been on holidays with him. That was when I was younger, when I could actually go on a lads holiday. That was a long time ago now.
“He’s a centre back. We’ll have to wait and see what the team is but he’s hoping I’m playing, so he can get a wee kick at me. It’ll be a bit strange playing against him. I used to play five-a-side games with Colin.
“I also went to school with their forward Colin Strickland and I was in the same teams as him as a young boy. I know attacker Graham Weir from playing against him. He was a few years older but I knew his brother Steven who was at Livingston with me. When Graham was at Hearts we went out for dinner and stuff like that.
“It is a bit of a strange situation.
“They’ve been texting me and they’re all buzzing. It’s obviously a massive game for them – a junior team getting this far is excellent to see.”
Rose have already made history by becoming the first junior club to reach the last 16 of the competition but Boyd has warned his side against under-estimating the Prestonfield outfit.
He added: “The manager will have us out preparing for the match just as if it was Celtic.
“That’s they way we have to do it, we can’t take our eye off the ball no matter who it’s against.
“They’ve got players who have played at a higher level, who are maybe getting older or whatever it is.
“On their day they can hurt us. We need to make sure we’re fully aware of that, so we can get into the quarter-finals and go on another cup run.”