'Hibs experience will stay with me': Broxburn's Greg Binnie recalls Berwick trial ahead of Challenge Cup meeting

Playing in a Berwick Rangers shirt gave Greg Binnie one of his most memorable experiences of his young career, but now he’s eager to shoot Berwick down and fire Broxburn Athletic into the third round of the Challenge Cup.

Broxburn’s Greg Binnie faced boyhood heroes Hibs while on trial with this Saturday's opponents, Berwick Rangers. (Photo by Ross MacDonald / SNS Group)

A boyhood Hibs fan, striker Binnie came off the bench three years ago to play against his heroes in a pre-season friendly as a trialist with Berwick. A move didn’t materialise as Binnie opted to sign for Broxburn instead.

“I still remember when I got the phone call. I was out pricing a job in Motherwell and I got a call to say ‘Berwick want you to go along and get a run out tonight against Hibs’,” recalled the 24-year-old.

“I was actually going to go along and watch it with a couple of my pals. All my family came along and I came on for the final 25 minutes. There was still a good core of the Hibs team that had won the Scottish Cup, coming on against guys like Paul Hanlon and Lewis Stevenson was a hell of an experience and something that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

“I went there after playing for Preston which was my first year at senior football, I had had a good year and I felt pretty sharp. Berwick had spoken to Jack Lynch to see if I’d be interested in going along, so I trained a few times and played a couple of games, but probably didn’t play as much as I’d hoped to play. It just so happened that Broxburn were interested, and I jumped to go there.”

Binnie says tomorrow’s cup tie at Shielfield Park is an opportunity to see how far away they are from competing in the Lowland League.

He continued: “It’s always good to test ourselves against a team in the league above, and it’s a good chance for us to put a bit of a marker down.

“I know the set-up that they’ve got, there is a lot of good people around the club. Their results this season have been quite good so they seem to have certainly added some proper strength.

“We are looking forward to it, the pressure is all on them. It will be good to see where we sit against a team from the Lowland League, and hopefully we can put in a good display.”

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