Brechin’s bound for the Big Apple as Lenny Wilson admits plenty of US pals will be praying this cup adventure throws up a dream reunion with Alistair Johston.
But the keeper knows he and his City team-mates are going to have to “suffer” against fellow Premiership opposition Hearts in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup if their wish is to stand a chance. Having spent four-and-a-half years Stateside after getting a football scholarship, the paths of Wilson and Celtic stalwart Johnston crossed as alumni of St John’s University in New York.
While AJ is now a regular on TV, Wilson and Co are relishing tonight’s chance to remind viewers of Brechin’s talented lot in what is their fourth season vying to return to the SPFL. He said: “I’ll have American friends keeping up with what’s going on because a lot of them who I still speak to now are good friends of Alistair’s as well.
“It would be incredible for them if we were to somehow get through and play Celtic, they would be conflicted on who they support – Celtic or the ‘minnows’. We briefly crossed paths. Alistair was packing his stuff up ready to move university while I was moving mine in so we trained a couple of times together and had a couple of nights out together.
“I’m sure our friends would be getting FaceTime on and getting us both in on it, it would be an incredible moment for the university as well to have two of their students playing against each other in such a prestigious tournament.
“We can wish. Right now it is only a dream but there’s no reason why it can’t happen. We just need to take care of our job, then see what happens. If you look at the top end of the Lowland and Highland Leagues, ourselves included, there are top, top players.
“It’s a team littered with younger boys who will no doubt go on to do bigger and better things. It’s a great shop window for the young ones looking to go higher, hopefully into full-time football, to go and mix it with one of the top teams in the country.
“And for the rest of us old boys, it’s a chance to claim a scalp that would be incredible for the club, town, fans, everyone. We understand we’re going to suffer in the game for probably large spells, it’s about staying in it and frustrating them.
“But that won’t be the sole aim – just to survive. It will be to take the game to them and make them feel uncomfortable.”
Euan Spark’s family are descending en masse from the Borders hoping for another cup classic akin to their 2-2 quarter-final draw with St Johnstone at Glebe in 2011. The skipper was in the stands along with pal and business partner John Souttar that day after playing for Dundee United’s Under-15s in the morning.
Spark said: “Fourteen years on, getting the chance to captain the team and play in one of those games, there is a real buzz. Just the memory of standing in the cow shed and seeing Brechin get a draw, there is a special touch to this one that we’re all dreaming ‘what if?’.”
Pull it off – or even if they don’t – there are likely to be a fair few sore heads in the town tomorrow morning. Just as well Spark and Souttar set up Maison Dieu Coffee Roasters with a cafe in Brechin.
Asked if it’ll be free coffees all round, he laughed and said: “Speak to John, he’s in charge of finances – I’ll be out of a job if I say that!”