Incredibly, this technically starts tomorrow!
We don't enter until the 4th Round (which is now in 'back' in its traditional January slot), but the draw for the opening stages is being held tomorrow at Hampden. Davie Moyes drawing out teams he'll never have heard of!

Interestingly, no 'first time' winner has retained the trophy since the 1870s.

To my knowledge, this seasons competition will have the most ever clubs with 92. And with 2 preliminary rounds scheduled, there are effectively 10 rounds of competition - again a record.
In the old North of Scotland Qualifying Cup, if I remember, the 16 Highland League teams had to win two games to reach the semi-finals, and qualification to the Scottish Cup.
Then (the Scottish Cup) had 4 rounds before the quarter-finals...so a total of 9 matches to win the whole thing! (sometimes even a bye in Round 1 was a possibility).

But this season's marathon means that when we enter, 5 of the 10 rounds will already have been played, and 60 of the 92 clubs will have been eliminated!

The 2 preliminary rounds are drawn tomorrow with the Scottish Amateur Cup winners involved for the first time - apparently a team called Harestanes from Kirkintilloch who play on a public park!

bump!

The Scottish Cup gets 'serious' this weekend, with teams from seven different divisions* playing to get into the big round, when the 'top sides' enter!
Not sure yet when the draw is for the last-32, but will probably be next week. Our game is the match directly after our New Year clash with County.
*Championship, League One, League Two, Highland League, Lowland league, East of Scotland League, Juniors.

Today's results:

Airdrieonians 3-1 Brechin City
Albion Rovers 0-2 Greenock Morton
Ayr United 0-1 Dunfermline Athletic
Cowdenbeath 1-1 Arbroath
Dumbarton P-P Alloa Athletic
Elgin City 1-2 Raith Rovers
Falkirk 4-1 Fraserburgh
Formartine United 1-1 Cove Rangers
Huntly 1-1 Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale
Inverurie Loco Works 4-4 Annan Athletic
Peterhead 1-3 Livingston
Queen's Park 1-1 Forfar Athletic
Stenhousemuir 2-2 East Kilbride
Stirling Albion P-P Cumbernauld Colts
Stranraer 3-1 Buckie Thistle
Wick Academy P-P Linlithgow Rose

The draw for the 4th round (last 32) is on Monday.
Teams in the hat:

Premiership
Inverness Caledonian Thistle (holders)
Celtic
Hamilton Academical
Kilmarnock
Partick Thistle
Dundee United
Dundee
Heart of Midlothian
Motherwell
Aberdeen
St Johnstone
Ross County

Championship
St Mirren
Hibernian
Rangers
Raith Rovers
Falkirk
Livingston
Queen of the South
Greenock Morton

League One
Dunfermline Athletic
Stranraer
Airdrieonians

Unresolved matches:
Arbroath  or  Cowdenbeath
Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale  or  Huntly
Cove Rangers  or  Formartine United
Forfar Athletic  or  Queen's Park
East Kilbride  or  Stenhousemuir
Dumbarton  or Alloa Athletic
Annan Athletic  or  Inverurie Loco Works
Wick Academy  or  Linlithgow Rose
Stirling Albion  or  Cumbernauld Colts

I was at Peterhead watching Livi go through quite comfortably. Peterhead started brightly but Gary Glen's goal after 15 minutes took the wind out of their sails. Rory battled away gamely off little more than scraps. Shane came on for about half an hour as Jim McInally gambled at 2-0 but Livi killed it on the break. Last week's hat trick hero in the 7-0 demolition of Cowdenbeath, McIntosh, was ineffectual and subbed. Great pies though.

I'd like to avoid Dunfermline, especially away.  A banana skin if there ever was one!

Wouldn't it have been wonderful back in the day had the Scottish Cup format been like this when the Highland League was really strong 

Without doubt many more so called stronger senior outfits would have a lot more eliminations to non league teams

It would have also highlighted how much Thistle had actually deteriorated in their last ten years of existence 

Dougal

The draw is now on Tuesday at 2pm - live on Sky Sports News.

Away to Stirling Albion or Cumbernauld

Pars -V- County banana skin tie

Hearts -V- Aberdeen

All ties on 9th or 10th January

 

Stirling Albion/Cumbernauld Colts v Inverness CT 

That'll do, an away tie but winnable.

Forthbank or Ice Station, hardly riveting but never mind, last time we played the Binos we won 6-1.

Would prefer the Binos over the Colts as I've never been to Forthbank.

That said, I had one of my best days out at Broadwood - the 2-1 game that effectively sealed promotion to the SPL.

Hope tonight's game (1 Dec) is decided so at least we know our opponents.  Then we need to know the date of our tie before I can start making travel arrangements.  Looking forward to Scottish Cup already!

Good start to our defence...by no means will we just turn up and win it but certainly a very winnable game! Looking forward to a wee trip down the road! I'm sure either team will get a decent home crowd...hopefully there'll be a good number of our own fans there too! 

On ‎29‎/‎11‎/‎2015‎ ‎19‎:‎27‎:‎48, dougal said:

Wouldn't it have been wonderful back in the day had the Scottish Cup format been like this when the Highland League was really strong 

Without doubt many more so called stronger senior outfits would have a lot more eliminations to non league teams

It would have also highlighted how much Thistle had actually deteriorated in their last ten years of existence 

Dougal

Right enough Dougal, that period included a comprehensive 3-0 win over Kilmarnock and a lucrative and unforgettable trip to Parkhead. Who knows how far the Jags could have gone if we hadn't 'deteriorated' so badly.....Credit though for attempting to turn the most unlikely of topics into tedious merger threads...Just what the site needs, we haven't had one for weeks....

Edited December 1, 20159 yr by Kingsmills

3 hours ago, TheMantis said:

Forthbank or Ice Station, hardly riveting but never mind, last time we played the Binos we won 6-1.

Aye that was a cracking away day which included a delightful goal from Dargo that even some of the opposition fans were applauding.

Stirling Albion 2-0 up on Cumbernauld Colts midway through the first half. Looking very like we will be heading to Forthbank.

Well we don't really want a cracking day at the Ice Station.

Ft 6-0

Can't have any complaints about the draw!

Airdrieonians v Dundee United
Dumbarton or Alloa Athletic v Queen of the South
Dundee v Falkirk
Dunfermline Athletic v Ross County
Heart of Midlothian v Aberdeen
Inverurie Loco Works or Annan Athletic v Hamilton Academical
Livingston v Greenock Morton
Motherwell v Formartine United or Cove Rangers
Raith Rovers v Hibernian
Rangers v Cowdenbeath or Arbroath
St Mirren v Partick Thistle
St Johnstone v Kilmarnock
Stenhousemuir or East Kilbride v Huntly or Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale
Stirling Albion v Inverness Caledonian Thistle
Stranraer v Celtic
Wick Academy or Linlithgow Rose v Queen’s Park or Forfar Athletic

Tricky away tie for our beloved neighbours.

Hopefully there will be a bus or two going. Never been to forthbank before I've even got her indoors approval . Most unusual 

I can't see C(o)unty losing it tbh. Although their record in the big cup is poor......

Last time they got drawn there I went along with a County supporting mate as I couldn't spare the whole day to go up the road. County got walloped 4-0 but even as the 4th one went in they were busy leaping about because Hamilton had scored against us.

some things never change 

4 minutes ago, TheMantis said:

I can't see C(o)unty losing it tbh. Although their record in the big cup is poor......

Last time they got drawn there I went along with a County supporting mate as I couldn't spare the whole day to go up the road. County got walloped 4-0 but even as the 4th one went in they were busy leaping about because Hamilton had scored against us.

some things never change 

I know, some county fans even took their shirts off when Hamilton scored.

I see we'll be up against one time Scotland hero Craig Beattie - but blimey, those horizontal stripes are not flattering. WTF!