On Saturday 29 April, the unlikeliest Scottish Cup semi-final in years will take place at Hampden Park in Glasgow. Falkirk, currently second in League 1, will face Championship promotion chasers Inverness Caledonian Thistle in a repeat of their meeting in the 130th Scottish Cup final in 2015. Inverness will head to the national stadium as favourites to repeat their 2-1 success that day, which was the first and only time they have lifted the trophy. John Hughes, who was Caley Thistle’s victorious team boss that day, and Rory Loy, who had just returned from long-term injury to lead the line for the beaten Bairns, look back at that last Hampden meeting and forward to Saturday’s return match. Inverness had qualified for Europe by finishing third in the Premiership and famously beating a Celtic side cruising to another league title in the semi-final. Falkirk had finished fifth in a particularly strong Championship won by Heart of Midlothian ahead of Hibernian, who they managed to beat in the cup semi-final. This season, Caley Thistle have had the luck of the draw, not only earning a reprieve after losing to Queen’s Park but also by Scotland’s two Glasgow giants, Celtic and Rangers, being drawn together in Sunday’s second semi-final. John McGlynn’s Falkirk head to Hampden on a high after a 4-1 derby win away to Alloa Athletic, while Billy Dodds’ side sit third in the second tier above having revived their promotion hopes with a six-game winning run. Saturday’s match will be broadcast live on BBC One Scotland, with commentary on BBC Radio Scotland and text on BBC Sport online.
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