THE Theatre of Dreams turned out to be just that for Graeme Murty and his York team-mates more than two decades ago.

Tomorrow afternoon, he must ensure Bellslea Park isn’t the scene of a Scottish Cup nightmare and one of the biggest upsets in Rangers’ history.

The Light Blues boss was part of the City side that won 3-0 at Old Trafford in 1995. Despite a 3-1 home defeat a few days later, a League Cup third round berth was booked.

The likes of Denis Irwin, David Beckham, Ryan Giggs and Brian McClair lined up against Murty and Co. but were put to the sword as Paul Barnes hit a double and Tony Barras also found the target.

In the early stages of his playing career, it was a moment to savour for the defender. Now the roles are reversed as he looks to deny Fraserburgh their own place in the history books.

“I knocked out Everton and Man U in successive years when I played for York,” Murty said.

“I love taking big clubs to my stadium and turning them over. I know what it’s like, I know exactly what’s going to be said in the changing room and I know there are going to be 17 people with 10 out of 10 attitudes, 10 out of 10 application and 10 out of 10 intensity.

“Anyone who is called upon for their team is going to be giving their absolute all. That is at it should be.

“We have to be prepared for that, we have to be ready for that. If we aren’t like that when we walk onto the pitch then we will put the ball in their court rather than ours.

“No matter who you play against, when you go to Old Trafford you know you are up against it. But we were really, really good. It is one of the highlights of my career.

“I am going to try and make damn sure these guys don’t have a highlight of their career. We were League Two, they were Premier League.”

United added Peter Schmeichel, Steve Bruce and Andy Cole, amongst others, to their ranks for the second leg as Paul Scholes netted twice after a Terry Cooke strike. A Scott Jordan effort was enough to earn York a place in English football folklore, however.

The memories still mean a lot to Murty. One player - the mercurial Eric Cantona - stands out for the former defender, though.

“He walked out for his warm-up, six foot odd, massive,” Murty said. “I thought: ‘Who’s that? Oh, it’s Eric!’

“For his warm up he flicked the ball up three times, bang, bang, bang, and then walked back in. That was it.

“He was a ledge. He had that aura about him. We were in awe of him and we couldn’t afford to be.

“We took the attitude that we weren’t going to be, we were going to be right in their faces for the whole game. That is how you approach it when you are the underdog. We have to be ready for that.”

Murty will find himself at the opposite end of the spectrum when he takes his side north tomorrow and Rangers return to competitive action following their winter hiatus.

Fraserburgh are second in the Highland League standings but it is the lure of a place in Scottish Cup folklore that will inspire Mark Cowie and his players.

The odds are stacked in Rangers’ favour but the Broch are out to upset them. Neither Murty nor the Gers can avoid a slip-up.

Murty said: “We treat it as the banana skin it could be. I’ll make sure the guys are prepped and we have our stuff done as diligently as if we were playing against Celtic.

“We have to make sure we walk out onto the football pitch with our attitude spot on. If we don’t we are in danger of becoming the story at the weekend.

“What we want is to be through into the next round by applying ourselves properly and taking a stellar attitude. We must show them the respect they deserve.

“If we do that then we can have a positive weekend. But we need to make sure that we do show them the respect they deserve and apply ourselves properly.”

Just a couple of hundred Gers fans will be inside Bellslea Park to see their side in action on these shores for the first time since their Old Firm draw at Parkhead next month.

Murty has added Sean Goss, Jamie Murphy, Jason Cummings and Russell Martin to his ranks since then and could give the quartet their competitive bows in the Highlands.

Rangers made the most of the Premiership shutdown as they spent time training at the IMG Academy before facing Atletico Mineiro and Corinthians in the Florida Cup.

Further recruits are set to be added before the end of the window but Murty is pleased with the squad, both in terms of quality and character, that he has to work with at present.

He said: “We have a few people that are quite large and quite loud.

“We have to make sure we are adding to the collective and making the group stronger and I think the people we have brought in – different personalities all – have added to what we have tried to do and bought into it.

“Florida was really good for that and hopefully we can move forward stronger than we were at the start.

“It is what it is, an opportunity for players to go and impress. We had a good camp in Florida so people got to see a bit of what I was about and the team was about and they showed up fairly well over there and they will only get better.

“We have to make sure that whilst they are bedding in we have enough about us, in our daily routine and standards, to ensure that we are in a good position when they hit peak form.”