Derby days are always a big occasion, regardless of the club you support. For me, an exciting derby win is only just behind seeing your team win the league, avoid relegation, reach a cup final or beat one of the Old Firm. Seeing off your local rivals means you can go into work - or school as was the case for me in the 90s - on a Monday morning with a big grin on your face, while you dread the trip if you lose. They are games to savour.
Many Saints fans claim they no longer see Morton as our main rivals. I totally disagree. While I couldn't care less about the annual Renfrewshire Cup final, a competitive game like the one we'll have in a few weeks is as important as it was when both sides were in the same division.
The rivalry between Morton and Saints is based purely on locality - nothing more, nothing less. The banter, songs and abuse that is exchanged has everything to do with our respective towns and football teams and nothing to do with race, religion or anything else like that. That's how it should be. But despite the apparent hatred between the fans can be put aside in times of need - such as in 2001 when we played Morton in a fund-raising friendly as they battled to stay in existence.
Derby days are when heroes are made. Mark Yardley scored seven in seven against that mob from down the road - including a last minute winner for Albion Rovers. Saints fans Steven McGarry and Barry Lavety seemed to revel in the atmosphere and regularly scored winners - something Basher's old Houston neighbour Steven Thompson will be looking to emulate.
Circumstances mean we have played Morton just twice in the last decade - both cup ties that we won. In 2002, just days after Tom Hendrie was booted out, Morton raced into a 2-0 lead in the League Cup at Cappielow. Martin Cameron and Simon Lappin levelled things up before, in extra-time, Yards produced a goal that Archie Gemmill would have been proud of. It was his final strike for the club and couldn't have been timed better. In 2005, Morton battered us in the final Renfrewshire derby at Love Street - only for Stewart Kean to send us through to the League Challenge Cup final in a thrilling penalty shoot out.
There are plenty of other memories too. I remember thrashing Morton 5-1 on a cold night at Love Street in the early 90s - and being absent when they got revenge in 1999, their last win over us to date. I remember doing them at Cappielow when they were fighting for promotion to the premier division (as it was then). I remember the chants of "Cheer up Rajamaki", Yards time wasting in front of Cappielow's main stand before Steven Aitken flattened him and was dismissed. I remember my dad not wanting to go in the Cowshed so we would be the only people behind the goal in the pouring rain - a treat regularly endured at Love Street's Cairter's Corner.
I remember the defeats too - losing 2-0 on a midweek night at Cappielow, rushing back from holiday to see us beaten by the same scoreline in 1998 when we fought Reg Brealey's takeover. I remember seeing us gubbed 4-1 at Love Street and losing 3-2 in a game in which there were four goals in about five second half minutes and Davie Elliott scored a superb solo effort.
All that - and more - are what makes the Renfrewshire derby so great and is why I'm gutted I can't be at Cappielow next week. Let's hope it serves up another cracker - and we come out on top again.
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