Scottish Cup: Where Will The Shocks Be This Weekend?

Anything can happen!

The Scottish Cup, we all love it. It's a chance to put aside a league season to take part in the country's landmark knockout competition and for some to get one step closer to Hampden Park for May's showpiece final. Anything can happen anywhere at anytime and the exciting part of the Scottish Cup is that we have no idea where that could be!

🏆 Third Round action returns to the @scottishgas Men’s Scottish Cup this weekend!#ScottishCup pic.twitter.com/tJV31kyJs9

— Scottish Gas Scottish Cup (@ScottishCup) November 26, 2025

This weekend it's the third round which means that the Championship and League One teams are entering the competition and all the teams will want to avoid be knocked out by lower league opposition. And this weekend; 12 of the 40 teams playing in the third round are playing their league football outside of the SPFL, the lowest ranked being the West of Scotland League First Division side Benburb who are based in Govan, Glasgow who host League One Montrose in the third round.

40 teams, 20 knockout ties but where could we perhaps expect the upsets to happen this weekend? We've picked five ties where we think it could happen:

Linlithgow Rose v Queen's Park

Prestonfield hosts the first tie of the weekend as Lowland League's Linlithgow Rose welcomes Queen's Park on Friday night. The Rose are currently in fourth place in the Lowland League table, five points off the table and have a game in hand.

A danger man that the Spiders will need to watch out on will be Dylan Paterson, who has scored 13 goals in the Lowland League this season and also have a squad full of ex SPFL players including James Berry (formerly of Raith Rovers and Stenhousemuir), Jamie Watson (formerly of The Spartans and Kelty Hearts), Blair Henderson (formerly of Edinburgh City and The Spartans).

There's lots of goals in this Linlithgow side, they are the second top scorers in the Lowland League this season with 47 goals scored with the Spiders having a leaky defence conceding 24 goals in 15 Championship games.

The Spiders are full time, and of course produced their own Scottish Cup shock last season when they defeated Rangers at Ibrox in the fifth round, and should perhaps on paper have too much for their part-time opponents but a Friday Night under the lights, live on BBC Scotland, plus a bad run of form in the Championship and a full house inside Prestonfield means that anything could possibly be on the cards tonight. If the Spiders don't get off to a fast start, then it could be a difficult match.

Airdrieonians v Hamilton Academical

A local rivalry and a meeting of two teams who were playing Championship football last season, whether some people will say this could be an upset or not will be a debate but it is Championship v League One and despite all their off-field issues Accies do have lots of quality in their squad for the trip to the Albert Bartlett Stadium.

Accies have Oli Shaw in their ranks who has scored 12 goals in 15 league games so far this season and have the likes of Kyle MacDonald who has 8 goals/assists along with Kevin O'Hara who has 7 goals/assists. Accies are also the top scorers in League One so far this season scoring 31 goals, whereas Airdrieonians have leaky defence; 25 goals conceded in the Championship with Ross County conceding more.

It's what he does ✅

📸 Adam Law pic.twitter.com/TSGE7NTFVm

— Hamilton Academical FC (@theacciesfc) November 22, 2025

And when you compare the head-to-head meetings in the Championship last season; Accies won two meetings including a 4-0 win against the Diamonds in Airdrie last November and the fact that Airdrieonians have only one game at home in the league all season.

However under interim manager Aaron Taylor Sinclair, the diamonds are playing good football and have played well in their last three games in particular their 1-1 draw over Partick Thistle at home and away at Stark's Park against Raith Rovers when they won 3-0. If they manage to progress in the competition this weekend surely the permanent manager's job is his for the keeps.

Kelty Hearts v Brechin City

A somewhat familiar rivalry is in store in Fife as the Highland League leaders travel to New Central Park to take on League One Kelty Hearts. Back in 2021, Kelty Hearts were promoted in the pyramid play-off final against Brechin City who were relegated and who have been in the Highland League ever since.

Ever since their relegation to the Highland League however, Brechin City have been one of the most entertaining sides outside the SPFL and this season has been no exception having scored 50 goals in 17 Highland League matches with Grady McGrath scoring 17 goals alone meaning he has scored a goal every 77 minutes that he's been on the football pitch.

All of this isn't sounding too good for the Maroon Machine who are bottom of League One having conceded 31 goals in 15 league games and are without a league win since the 27th of September.

An upset is on the cards here but for Kelty a win could be the result they need to not only continue their Scottish Cup campaign but to kick start their season back in the league when it resumes next week against Montrose.

Peterhead v Greenock Morton

The Blue Toon have enjoyed their return back to the third tier of Scottish football, in particular at Balmoor where they have picked up 14 out of their 20 points already on the board in the league table and scoring 16 goals on their home pitch.

In particular Kieran Shanks is having a good season in League One having scored seven league goals already this season, not bad when you consider that he scored 10 goals and in a lower league from last season. Craig McGuffie will be another wanting to impress in this Scottish Cup tie having been a former Morton player in a 18-month spell before leaving for Falkirk in 2021.

81’ GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL FOR PETERHEAD!!! KIERAN SHANKS TUCKS IT HOME!!!

(1-0) #BlueToon🔵⚪️💙 pic.twitter.com/bsXgIQgnKM

— Peterhead FC (@pfcofficial) November 15, 2025

Jordon Brown and Ryan Strachan are doing a very good job as co-managers of the Blue Toon ever since their appointment in April 2023 and facing an experienced head in the opposition dugout. Billy Davies is in caretaker charge of Morton, following Dougie Imrie's departure to Raith Rovers earlier this week. Although Davies is an experienced head, this will be his first spell in management since March 2014 when he was sacked at Nottingham Forest.

The full-time Ton perhaps should have too much for the Blue Toon, but an impressive home record should be something for Peterhead to take full advantage of if they want to cause an upset and progress to the fourth-round draw.

Stranraer v Clydebank

The Lowland League leaders travel to Stair Park hoping to cause an upset against their League Two hosts. They should arrive in confidence; Gordon Moffat's team have been impressive in their first season in the Lowland League having won promotion from the West of Scotland League Premier Division. The Bankies have scored the most goals in the division and have the second-best defence as well.

A team full of promise and goals including from their experienced captain Nicky Little who has 8 goals, Keir Samson has 9 goals but Neil McLaughlin, a summer signing from St. Cadoc's Youth Club has 11 goals in the league this season. Nicky Low, formerly of Aberdeen, Dundee and Derry City, is one of the Bankies star players having 6 assists from midfield.

✨ A touch of genius from Nicky Low for Bankies' second at Gala. pic.twitter.com/30LH0ieS4Q

— Clydebank FC (@clydebankfc) October 12, 2025

Stranraer this season in League Two have started off relatively well, they are currently in sixth place and four points behind Elgin City in the race for the playoffs but have only picked up 5 points at home all season. However, in their last Scottish Cup tie did defeat Glenafton Athletic 4-0 at Stair Park.

They will need to hope they can have similar luck in front of goal against a side who do like scoring goals themselves, the Bankies have 48 goals in the league and have scored 7 goals in their first two Scottish Cup ties already this season.