Monarchs may have missed out so far on national trophies having been involving in the final stages of all competitions. Before embarking on their campaign in the Young Shield play-offs, Edinburgh face Glasgow in the two legs of the Scottish Cup.
Edinburgh last lost this trophy to Glasgow in the 1995 season when a brilliant performance at Powderhall was insufficient to overcome a thumping loss in the first leg at Shawfield. The Trophy was not contested in 1996 because of the temporary closure of Glasgow. Monarchs won on aggregate over Glasgow in 1997. It was not contested in 1998 in a season when there were rather too many rain-offs. Monarchs again won with a double over Glasgow late in the 1999 season.
While most challenge matches are treated as meaningless space fillers in the fixture list, te Scottish Cup has been taken seriously by the supporters of Glasgow and Edinburgh and is as keenly contested as any derby fixture. However the rules for this fixture are usually more relaxed than for official competition.
Monarchs are expected to field a full strength team while Glasgow will be without Emiliano Sanchez and former Tiger Richard Juul will guest in his place. In a Premier League match Glasgow would have had to use rider replacement but the change is presumably by agreement between the two promotions.
The Ashfield leg of the match is on Sunday 24th September and starts at 3.00pm. The return is at Armadale on Friday 29th September at the normal 7.30pm start time.
Live updates of the scores of both matches will appear on Armadale live.