Brad McKay grew up dreaming of playing for Hearts – but now he hopes to help Breedon Highland League side Brechin City be their Scottish Cup nightmare.
The Hedgemen face the Premiership Jambos in round four of the tournament tonight (7.45pm kick-off) in front of a sell-out crowd of 3,500 at Glebe Park, with the fixture also being shown live on BBC Scotland.
Defender McKay was at Tynecastle from 2010 to 2015, and he’s delighted to have the chance to face his former club in the Scottish Cup.
The 31-year-old, who signed for Brechin last summer, said: “Hearts is my boyhood club and I’ve got amazing memories from my time there.
“Growing up I used to blow out the candles on my birthday cake every year and the wish I would make was to play for Hearts.
“I didn’t tell anyone except my mum what I was wishing for until it actually came true.
“It’s great to be facing them again.
“We’re definitely hopeful we can do something – you play every game to win ultimately.
“We know we’re going to have to ride our luck and defend extremely well.
“Hearts are a Premiership side with a lot of quality players, but you’ve always got a chance in any game and we’ve seen shocks happen before.
“When you’re thinking about the game and envisioning what might happen, you’re not envisioning getting beat. You think about scoring the winner or keeping a clean sheet and things like that.
“We’ll give it 100% and see how we get on.”
Day to remember for Brechin’s McKay in round three
McKay – who has also been with St Johnstone, Stenhousemuir, Dunfermline, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Falkirk and Kelty Hearts during his career – has played a big part in Brechin securing this glamour tie.
In the last round against Cowdenbeath, he netted his first senior hat-trick as City won 4-1 after extra-time.
He added: “Getting a hat-trick in the last round was great – and it’s pretty rare for a defender I suppose. I couldn’t really believe it and I didn’t know how to celebrate!
“We went to Dublin after the game for our Christmas weekend and the boys made a rule that I was going to be fined every time I mentioned the hat-trick, so I had to keep pretty quiet about it.
“The most important thing was to get to the next round, and it’s been good what’s happened with the draw since as well.
“The Scottish Cup is brilliant and to get a hat-trick to get Brechin into the fourth round is up there with anything I’ve done in my career.”
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