Alan Pattullo: Traditions have been lost but still plenty intrigue on Scottish Cup weekend

Demands from broadcasters meant that the Scottish Cup fourth round kicked off on Friday night, with Premier Sports showing the Rangers v Stranraer tie. Picture: Andrew Milligan/PA

Once it was known as the third round. Now, on account of more teams being involved in the  competition, it’s the fourth round.

Traditionalists might also be affronted by the spread of fixtures across three days due to the demands of television, starting with last night’s clash between Rangers and Stranraer. Dundee v Motherwell, which some might reasonably wonder why needs to be shown at all, kicks-off at the not-very-fan-friendly time of 7.20pm tonight because it is being covered live by BBC Scotland.

One thing that hasn’t changed is the amount of interesting, often very personal, stories thrown up by ties which, in several cases, pitch clubs of a patently different status against one another. One, Broxburn Athletic’s trip to face  St Mirren, involves a difference of six leagues and 53 places.

It’s one clash that might have been broadcast instead of the game at Dens Park, with Dundee and Motherwell having met each other in the same competition as recently as two years ago.

But perhaps we should be grateful. Those wishing to watch The Brox attempt to pull off the greatest Scottish Cup shock of all time will need to be inside the ground.

A fleet of buses will head to Paisley from West Lothian for the pleasingly traditional 3pm kick-off. Sitting in the one carrying the players will be Greg Binnie, a 22-year-old whose Scottish Cup story already involves some shame as well as glory.

As a striker, Binnie is meant to confront goalkeepers during regulation play and when he’s permitted to be on the pitch. This was not the case on 21 May 2016. Like hundreds of other Hibs supporters, he climbed over the wall at the end of the Scottish Cup final to hail a  historic victory over Rangers.

Not everyone ran towards Rangers goalkeeper Wes Foderingham like he did, while gesturing in a threatening manner.

You might still remember photographs of Binnie, who stood out because of his ginger hair. He was further highlighted due to his then role as a squash coach at George Watson’s College.

He lost that job and was handed a banning order by Hibs after he was charged under the Offensive Behaviour at Football Act. He pleaded guilty and, still only a teenager, received a community payback order. “My family are born and bred Hibees,” he explained. “It was emotional. Things happened.”

Redemption. It’s not the R most often associated with the cup – that’s romance, of course. There’s plenty of the latter to be found at Bonnyrigg Rose v Clyde, three-times cup winners, in the “Bonnie & Clyde derby”.

Unlike against Hibs three years ago, when their tie in the same competition was switched to Tynecastle, The Rose are preparing for the grassy banks of their own New Dundas Park to be trampled on by the feet of a capacity crowd of 2,200.

And then there’s former Hibs defender Ian Murray heading back to Tynecastle for a classic-sounding tie – Heart of Midlothian v Airdrieonians. Older Hearts fans might recall with understandable distaste two semi-final defeats meted out by the visitors in 1992 and 1995.

Whether Airdrie manager Murray decides to have either or both of these years shaved into the side of his head remains to be seen.