The Lawrence Shankland sliding doors moment shows Scottish Cup wannabes what could have been - Ryan Stevenson

The best player I ever played with was John Paul McBride. Bar none. We were at St Johnstone together and he did things with the ball I’d never seen anyone do before.

He was as brilliant as he was wild. Paul Hartley, a magnificent talent, was at the club at the same time and watching how the both of them conducted themselves off the park pulled my own career onto the straight and narrow. JP and Zico were chalk and cheese. One of them saw their career fail to reach anywhere near to its potential and one went on to play for Hearts, Celtic and Scotland.

I’m sure JP will forgive me for saying this but he had everything in his locker required to play at the very highest level but there was also a self-destruct bottom. Every Tuesday it would be compulsory to have a few drinks in Trash nightclub. It was a different culture back then. You would bump into players from loads of different clubs, that’s just the way the drinking culture was.

Zico would stand there with a Smirnoff Ice and sip that before leaving early to head up the road. JP wouldn’t. It’s the small things like these which lead you towards your destiny as a footballer and what level you reach.

I thought of JP last weekend as Lawrence Shankland was heading home a last gasp equaliser for Scotland in Georgia. Sliding door moments, twists of fate and the smallest of margins are what separate the best of footballers from the run of the mill.

Ability only carries you so far, luck, attitude and environment have always been far greater factors on whether someone ends up at Troon Juniors or Tottenham Hotspur.

Shanks has worked so hard, committed himself, believed in himself and refused to give up. It’s the reason why he’s in such demand at Hearts and not turning out for