The joke may have been on Stuart Malcolm because of the oddest of own goals but he got the last laugh by becoming an Arbroath hero.
Malcolm blasted a clearance off the back of Alex Keddie and into the Lichties’ net to open the scoring for Celtic in the original William Hill Scottish Cup fourth round clash 11 days ago.
It was a calamitous moment that left most people inside Parkhead anticipating a subsequent glut of goals for the Hoops.
To their tremendous credit, however, Malcolm and his fellow defenders picked themselves up off the floor and went on to play out of their skins against the SPL champions.
It was arguably as fine a defensive display as any side has produced at that venue this season.
The brilliance at the back was rewarded when Steven Doris’ last-gasp free-kick deflected off the Celtic wall and into the net to secure the replay that will grace Gayfield this evening.
Now, Malcolm can’t wait to have another go at Neil Lennon’s men.
”Let’s be honest, that goal was a bit of YouTube moment,” said Malcolm in reference to the website where footage of these types of incidents usually ends up.
”It was a blunder but the great thing was the way we recovered from it.
”We were solid and although Celtic did have chances they always do we held firm and rode our luck as well. For me, that result was the biggest achievement I have had in football, bar none.
”It was fantastic for a team of part-timers to go to Parkhead and get a draw against a side that is now in the last 16 of the Champions League.
”When you are a kid you watch European football on the TV and hope one day you will experience it.
”That won’t happen for me, as I am nearing the end of my career, but it is great to be playing against players who have got there.”
Malcolm highlighted the difference in approach to the replay between the part-time Angus men and the Hoops.
”Our build-up to the game will be a wee bit different to that of the Celtic boys,” he added.
”We all have jobs and have been working while they were able to do their full-time training.
”But what I will say to our fans, who turned out in such incredible numbers at Parkhead, is that we will be applying ourselves totally in this cup tie and will be trying to win.
”Nobody should expect anything less from this squad of players.”
Meanwhile, player-manager Paul Sheerin has revealed that last season’s Scottish Cup meeting with Rangers will have an impact on this game against Celtic.
The tie should go ahead despite the cold snap and that is in part due to the proceeds from the 4-0 defeat from Ally McCoist’s side in January.
Sheerin explained: ”The committee used some of the money from the Rangers game to purchase pitch protection covers.
”We had them down ahead of the Stenhousemuir game on Saturday and when they came off the pitch was in good nick.
”The covers were back down before we left on Saturday so hopefully they will have done their job again.”
As well as practical support, the tussle with Rangers, who were then in the SPL, gave Sheerin an insight into what is required against top-flight sides and he used that knowledge in the first game at Celtic Park.
He added: ”The Rangers game was actually a disappointing one for me, as I did not feel that we played anything like we could.
”We started the game well but then fell out of it and were nowhere near convincing enough as an attacking threat and there was too much acceptance of a defeat.
”I went away and learned from it and changed our normal shape for Parkhead and we came away with a draw.”
Asked if they could go one better this time against Celtic, Sheerin said: ”We will be going out there looking for a win but I know we need a few things to happen in our favour to allow that to happen.
”We all need to be bang-on our game and hope a few of their players do not fancy it. If that all happens, well, you never know.”
Sheerin has a fully fit and suspension-free squad to choose from.