Rangers fear Arbroath soaking

Dubai and Arbroath have little in common, other than sand. Rangers will swap one for the other on Saturday and hope that their silverware is not surrendered to a side who are ready to fight them on the beaches.

Unlike Farnbrough Town, Arbroath are in no mood to cede home territory. The rules of the Scottish Cup do not allow the part-time First Division club to copy the FA Cup giant-killers and switch their tie. So, while Arsenal will enjoy home comforts at Highbury, Rangers will be adjusting to the culture shock of Gayfield Park days after returning from a training camp in Dubai. Arbroath's modest ground has the beach running behind the wall of one terracing: at best, the North Sea air can be bracing – at worst, the pounding waves can be visible.

As far as manager John Brownlie is concerned, the inhospitable environment could be Arbroath's secret weapon. "No one is under any illusion about how difficult the task will be, but we have a better chance of causing Rangers problems here than if we moved the tie," he said.

Arbroath briefly dabbled with the idea of taking the game to Dundee, 20 miles down the coast, if the police had voiced concerns over crowd safety. They did not, and satellite television is now screening the contest live, which will earn the club £82,500. "The television money will make up for the extra gate receipts we might have got at Dundee," explained Brownlie. Gayfield's record attendance is 13,510 when Rangers visited on Scottish Cup duty in 1952. When they returned for a quarter-final in 1993, the capacity was 9,000, but the current 4,145 limit reflects today's more stringent times.

Brownlie is hoping to benefit from the cup revenue to bring in a couple of players to help stave off relegation, but the reality is that he is their most notable personality, some 20 years after hanging up his boots. Yet, when Brownlie was earning his seven Scotland caps as a cultured full-back with Hibernian before moving to Newcastle United, Arbroath were capable of upsetting Rangers. The same year that Brownlie played against England, 1972, Arbroath were in the top division and winning at Ibrox, of all places, just weeks before Rangers triumphed in the Cup-Winners' Cup.

The goal was scored by Eric Sellars, whose son Barry also played for his hometown club before moving to local rivals Forfar. Sellars junior encountered Alex McLeish's side last season, and was mauled 6-0 at home. "I'm afraid all that stuff about it being 11 against 11 is just a load of rubbish," he said. "Rangers were different class and the thing that stuck in my mind is the speed they played at."

However, Craig Feroz, the Arbroath striker, has a different view. Last season, he was part of the Berwick Rangers side who held McLeish's players to a 0-0 draw at Shielfield Park, before succumbing to late goals in the replay. "We felt we were unlucky in both games," said Feroz. "If we had scored first at Ibrox, who knows what could have happened. Cup shocks can happen."

They certainly can. For over a century, Arbroath feasted on their 36-0 drubbing of Bon Accord in the first round in 1885 as the world-record score. These days, the only firepower is supplied by the commando unit based in the town, and they are heading to the Middle East.

Shocks are trickier to forecast than the weather, but few places are better suited. Anyone who recalls the role the elements played in Paul Lawrie's victory in the 1999 Open, just 10 miles down the road at Carnoustie, will understand why Rangers are nervous.