'They hate us, and we hate them' - the fierce Scottish Cup derby

Scottish Cup: Auchinleck Talbot v Cumnock Juniors

Venue: Beechwood Park, Auchinleck Date: Friday, 26 September Time: 19:45 BST

Coverage: Watch on BBC Scotland, iPlayer and the BBC Sport & website

Two Ayrshire neighbours are getting ready to bring one of Scottish football's fiercest rivalries to the national stage.

Auchinleck Talbot and Cumnock Juniors - from just a mile apart in East Ayrshire - face each other in the Scottish Cup for the very first time on Friday evening, live on BBC Scotland.

It's a fixture rooted not just in footballing tradition, but in the shared history of two former mining villages where the pits once dominated daily life.

In this part of Scotland, any Old Firm allegiances are relegated to supporters' second teams.

Hate is a strong word, but when it comes to this rivalry, it is impossible to avoid.

This is a derby match of legend. The hard-bitten animosity seeps from the soil. All of it steeped in industrial history, as so much of Scottish football is.

Cumnock and Auchinleck are mining communities a mile apart in East Ayrshire. A hard life and harder football. And then the mines closed.

"Hate. You just can't get it out of your system," says Auchinleck Talbot club historian James McAuley, who was born and brought up in a house right next to Beechwood Park and has followed 'The Bot' for more than 60 years.

"They hate us, and we hate them. And that's it. Then after 90 minutes it's more or less back to normal. It used to be the same when the pits were open."

Cumnock Juniors fan David Weir chairs the community enterprise that helps support the football club.

"It is actually one of the most impoverished areas in the whole country," he says. "It's a bit tribal. It always has been and we love the blood and guts of it."

With this derby doubling as a Scottish Cup first-round tie, there is an extra pungency to an encounter that is forever teetering on the brink of spilling over.

"The one that probably stands out was back in the late '90s," says Weir.

"There was a bit of a scuffle on the park and there are famous pictures of police horses running down the pitch to try to break up the rioters.

"But it was just a bit of a storm in a teacup. I think the police horses have dined out on that story."

Amidst the mayhem, both clubs made their names as titans of junior football.

But as the Scottish football landscape has changed in recent times, they both find themselves in the upwardly mobile world of the West of Scotland Premier League.

Talbot top the table, with designs on promotion to the Lowland League.

They are in frightening form, scoring an average of almost five goals a game. They go into Friday's derby as favourites against their mid-table rivals.

While Auchinleck's population is only 3,500 compared to Cumnock's 12,000, so much of the dynamic goes back to a fire that was literally started in 1972.

Vandals burned down the Talbot dressing room. To compound a miserable year, they were also thrashed 11-0 by Cumnock.

The Auchinleck community rallied, and Talbot have never looked back.

"I don't think we see them as much of a threat," says club historian Macaulay. "Even though we enjoy the derbies, I think we have risen above a wee bit."

Cumnock fan Weir naturally takes a slightly differently view.

"Talbot fans are so used to having success that it is almost a God-given right to them," he says. "And when it doesn't happen for them, I think they could turn very quickly. Cumnock fans are a bit more humble in defeat."

The needle off the pitch clearly never ends.