It's a 12:30pm kick off on Sunday as St Mirren take on Ayr United at the Paisley 2021 Stadium in the IRN-BRU Cup Quarter-Final.
It's the third meeting of the two teams this season having already faced off against each other in the Betfred Cup in July and the Ladbrokes Championship in August.
Saints are unbeaten in those meetings with Jack Baird's 90th minute goal securing a 1-0 win in the Betfred Cup tie, while Tom Walsh rescued a point at Somerset Park with an 89th minute header to cancel out Jamie Adams' first half goal.
St Mirren have played Ayr United three times in the Challenge Cup with the Honest Men holding the advantage having won two to the Saints one.
The first game came back in October 1992 as the Buddies travelled to Somerset Park in the first round. The hosts had reached the final in the previous two seasons falling to Dundee and Hamilton. It was a difficult afternoon for the Buddies and Chic Charnley's goal was not enough to prevent a Saints defeat as Ayr edged the game 2-1.
Saints travelled to Somerset Park again a year later, this time with a place in the final up for grabs. A double from Eddie Gallagher secured a 2-1 reverse for St Mirren and set up a final clash against Falkirk. Unfortunately there was no happy ending for the Buddies in the final as the Bairns won 3-0.
The last meeting of the two in this competition came back in the 2001-02 season with Ayr pitching up at Love Street. They ran out 3-1 winners with goals from future Saint Gary Teale, Paul Sheerin and Eddie Annand rendering Mark Yardley's goal meaningless.
Saints path to the Quarter-Finals this season has been anything but smooth. The Buddies looked to be crashing out at the first hurdle when Albion Rovers raced into a 2-0 lead at Cliftonhill in September. Saints recovered before half time and eventually went 3-2 up, before conceding a quick goal that put Albion back on level terms. It took until extra-time for the St Mirren to secure their passage into the next round with Lawrence Shankland netting on 98 minutes to set up a fourth round tie with Hibernian.
On the face of it Saints couldn't have been a dealt a tougher draw than facing Hibernian at Easter Road. Neil Lennon's side currently sit atop of the Ladbrokes Championship and would've have been favourites to win the IRN-BRU Cup when they entered. However, it was a memorable day in the capital for the Buddies as goals from Stephen Mallan and David Clarkson gave the then caretaker manager Allan McManus a win in his last game in charge.
Ayr's passage to this stage has arguably been just as difficult as the Saints. They narrowly defeated Airdrieonians 3-2, with goals from McGuffie, Forrest and Balatoni sending them through to the fourth round. Like St Mirren in their fourth round clash with Hibernian, Ayr rose to the challenge as they knocked out Falkirk, seeing off the Bairns in extra-time. Gary Harkins scored with 114 minutes on the clock to send the Honest Men through and set up Sunday's tie.
St Mirren will be without Andy Webster and Rocco Quinn who are both still injured while Ben Gordon and Ryan Hardie are cup-tied.
Sunday's game will be a massive one, with both sides knowing that a win will leave them within touching distance of the final. Saints have won the trophy and been in the semi-final in their last two forays into this competition and will be looking to maintain that good run. Meanwhile Ayr will be looking to complement what has been a strong start to Championship life under Ian McCall. It's all to play for.
All the match day information can be found here.
