Arbroath defender Kieran McAnespie has beaten Rangers before and he hasn’t ruled out doing it again on Sunday.
Back in 1999, the 32-year-old had just broken into the St Johnstone first team and played a starring role in the Perth side which defeated the Ibrox men 3-1 at McDiarmid Park.
Unsurprisingly, it’s a match he has no problems recollecting, even though it was well over a decade ago.
He said: ”I set up two and scored the third. It was a great day and I remember it well.
”We had a right good team at the time with experienced pros like Alan Kernaghan, Jim Weir, Paul Kane and Allan Preston. Experience like that is like gold. That was the main reason we did so well.
“I think we took nine points off the Old Firm that season and that was at a time when they were more feared. That’s not the case these days. Teams believe they have a chance against them now.”
McAnespie’s career took him to Fulham, Hearts and Falkirk, with a few other stops along the way. He could have been excused for thinking he’d played his last game against the Old Firm, so he’s relishing the live Sky Sports match all the more.
He said: ”I’m really excited about the Rangers match. It will be a massive day for the club and for the players especially those who have aspirations to play full-time football.
”I’m 32 now and I’m probably looking at life after football. I’m not saying that I wouldn’t go full-time again but I’d have to weigh it up financially. At the moment I’ve got a job dealing with student loans and I’m enjoying it.
”The most important thing is that I’m loving my football again. We’ve got a lot of experience in the team and I’m probably not the only one who has won against the Old Firm. I know the gaffer has, and Brian Kerr might have as well.
”Of course it’s a winnable match. Results have shown that we can leak goals but we’re a good passing side and we’ve definitely got goals in us. The likes of Gavin Swankie, Steven Doris and our midfielders all have a good record.
”We love pushing forward. It’s always been in my game to be a bit gung-ho but the manager has to put the brakes on me sometimes.
”A lot will obviously depend on Rangers and what team Ally McCoist puts out, but as long as we’re brave on the ball, have belief in ourselves that we’re good enough, then who knows where that will take us?”
McAnespie was a team-mate of manager Paul Sheerin in his second spell at Saints, and he admitted it was Sheerin’s powers of persuasion that lured him to Gayfield.
He said: ”I went up there because of the gaffer. He convinced me to come up for training and have a look at the set-up, even though I think he was looking for a centre-half at the time.
”At Saints, I was actually next to the gaffer in the dressing room and I think me and Dinky (Kevin Rutkiewicz) used to drive him demented!”
He added: ”Everybody loves coming to training, and that’s something that comes from the gaffer. I think there are five of us who travel to Dundee and Perth for training from Glasgow, three from Fife, and a couple from Edinburgh.
”It’s about an hour and 40 minutes to get up there from Glasgow but it sometimes feels like a week to get there and a week to get back! It’s not something you’d do if there wasn’t a great team spirit.”