Goalkeeper Joe Barbour grew up following Fraserburgh as a fan and is relishing the chance to be between the posts at Ibrox.
After Saturday’s scheduled Breedon Highland League fixture against Rothes was postponed due to frost, the Broch’s full focus now turns to next weekend’s Scottish Cup clash with Rangers.
The Buchan outfit visit Govan on Sunday (2.15pm kick-off) in a classic David versus Goliath fourth round encounter.
Barbour made his Fraserburgh debut in March 2011, but over the years has had to bide his time to become number one at Bellslea when competing with the likes of Paul Leask and Peter Tait.
Ahead of tackling the Gers the 31-year-old has expressed his pride at getting to represent his home town on the national stage.
He said: “I’m really proud (to be part of the squad facing Rangers), I grew up watching the Broch.
“Me and my dad used to travel to every game. I went to every home game for years and then being able to play for your local team is a great honour. I absolutely love it.
“You see the town’s coming together. There are shops with the Broch badges and all the black and white in their windows, there’s stuff like that happening.
“I went to Tesco last week and the amount of folk that stopped and asked about the game was amazing.”
Underdogs must have belief
Part-time Fraserburgh will be huge underdogs when they face Rangers, who are second in the Premiership.
But goalkeeper Barbour is daring to dream about shutting out the Gers and insists the Broch have to believe they can cause a major shock.
He added: “The main thing we really want from it is to make sure they know they’ve been in a game and we’ve all done our part.
“I am expecting to be pretty busy, but in the back of my head I can dream about keeping a clean sheet.
“I’m confident in my own ability, but a lot of things have got to go right on the day for us for that to be a possibility.
“But we can always dream. Hopefully we can put on a decent display.
“We’ve got to believe don’t we? I’m dreaming about saving a penalty so we can always hope.”
Cowie looks to compete with big hitters
Fraserburgh boss Mark Cowie is determined to ensure his side are competitive against Rangers – despite the weather disrupting their preparations.
Saturday’s game against Rothes being postponed due to frost means the Broch haven’t played since December 28 ahead of visiting Ibrox on next Sunday.
Although Cowie would have liked to play this weekend his attention has now turned to ensuring his charges enjoy the experience of facing the Gers.
He said: “One thing we can’t do is control the weather. The weather went against us, but we just have to react to that and we’ll prepare as best we can.
“We’ve trained and we’ve had a couple of bounce games among ourselves.
“We had a meeting on Saturday to come up with a plan for this week and I’m sure we’ll be fine.
“We do want to enjoy it but at the end of the day we’ve got a job to do.
“This competition allows us to be involved in games like this and we need to try to compete.
“These occasions don’t happen every day with the level we’re at.
“There’s a fine line between enjoying it and making it competitive, if it’s a drubbing then it won’t be enjoyable.
“We’ll do our homework and plan as best we can and then we trust the players to implement what we’ve planned.
“I’m sure they’ll do that and I think we’ll be OK on the day. We need to try to put in as good a performance as we can and see what happens.
“In terms of what we’ll be up against it’s difficult to come up with a plan.
“I’ve got a fair idea of the shape Rangers will play, but I’ve no idea of the personnel that will play because they’ve got a pool of about 40 players to pick from.”
‘Really good of the club’
In order to get the best preparation possible Fraserburgh are staying overnight in the Glasgow area on Saturday.
Cowie added: “Staying over just adds to the experience really and it’s something we haven’t done before.
“The last thing you want to be doing is rushing on Sunday to get to Ibrox so it’s really good of the club to put us up for the night.
“It adds to the whole experience and allows us to have a stress-free morning, prepare properly and then make our way to the stadium for the game.
“With Saturday’s game going off we’re all champing at the bit now because the Rangers game is our next game.”
To secure this tie against Rangers, Fraserburgh beat Rothes and Turriff United before taking the scalp of League One Annan Athletic in the third round.
With the Broch sitting ninth in the league, Cowie believes this cup run, and the Annan win in particular, has reinvigorated their season.
The Breedon Highland League’s longest-serving manager – who is in his 10th season in the job – said: “Sometimes as a manager or as players you need a spark. I’ve been here a long time and there were moments where you think ‘is it long enough?’
“Performances weren’t quite happening and results weren’t quite happening.
“Then we put in a performance against Annan which was one of the most complete performances we’ve had in my time at the club.
“With our attacking play and defensive play everything just clicked and it was one of the best all-round performances we’ve had.
“Sometimes you need that to show what you’re capable of and the quality that’s at your disposal.”
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