Darvel looking to continue fairytale Scottish Cup run against Falkirk

Scottish Cup surprise package Darvel are looking to continue their historic fairytale run when they host Falkirk on Monday night.

The non-league outfit will be the first team outside the top four divisions to reach the quarter-finals in over 50 years if they can get past the League One side who have won the competition twice and played in five finals.

Mick Kennedy’s West of Scotland Premier Division champions produced one of the biggest cup shocks in living memory when they knocked Aberdeen out in the last round.

They are now preparing for the visit of the Bairns in the last 16 with an unlikely place at Hampden only two wins away.

The last non-league team to reach the quarter-finals was then-Highland League club Elgin in 1968, when they narrowly missed out on a place in the semis in a 2-1 defeat to Greenock Morton.

Darvel would be the first ever team from the West of Scotland leagues to reach that stage.

The Ayrshire club made headlines nationwide with the 1-0 home win over the seven-times winners last month and the owner John Gall revealed the enormity of the reaction.

He said: “Nobody knew where Darvel was before but it’s now famous for the biggest upset in Scottish football.

“We all said, ‘It would be great if we could win’, but we didn’t realise the enormity of it, of actually beating them and what it would bring.

“Where were all you (media) guys three or four years ago? You had never heard of Darvel, now you all want a bit of us.”

The draw for the last eight will take place before the game kicks-off at 7.45pm meaning both side will know who they have in the next round with the likes of Celtic, Rangers and Hearts lying in wait.

Falkirk have won the Scottish Cup twice, with the latest being in 1957, and were losing finalists in 2015, 2009 and 1997.