Scott Brown on the Rangers 'no pressure' lesson he takes into next Ayr showdown in touchline spar with old pal

Sharing a touchline with David Gray on a Friday night is a staple of Scott Brown’s week.

But the Ayr boss says this week’s change of venue will bring with it pressure for both – because Somerset expects to be entertained when Hibs pitch up. Not only are the gaffers on the same UEFA Pro Licence, their kids’ football means the pair see plenty of one another. There will be no awkwardness at their next get-together, regardless of Friday’s Scottish Cup fifth-round outcome, as the Championship leaders crave a scalp. Former Easter Road stalwart Brown said: “I see Dave quite a lot, to be fair. Our kids are at the same football on Friday nights so we’re missing the kids’ football to come to our game!

“We’ve not had time to chat about it but it’s probably better because you don’t really want to chit-chat before the game. Dave will be in the exact same position – we’d have just kept it low key, he’d stand at one side, I’d stand the other. ‘Big man, how you doing? See you next week’!

“I’m sure Dave and I will scream at each other and at the players this Friday, it’s great to win and to be a part of everything. But kids’ football is second to none, we just go and watch, sit, chill and we both stand way far back... hopefully nobody notices us!

“It’s brilliant to see how far we’ve come this year. We played Rangers last year in the Scottish Cup and yes we might have done all right but there was no pressure because Rangers expected to win.

“This is a little bit different, Hibs coming to Somerset. There’s still a lot of pressure on them to win – there’s always pressure on us to win here as well for our fans.

“They want to see entertaining football, they expect a good standard as well, so we need to make sure we do that for them. Hopefully