FACING CELTS CUZ COULD CAUSE FUSS
BUCKIE star Josh Peters is the cousin of Stephen Welsh and admitted their Scottish Cup clash with Celtic will split his family down the middle.
It is the first time the family will go head-to-head and it puts his mum and her sister in a difficult position as their boys get set to face off at Celtic Park.
Peters knows his Highland League side are very much the underdogs as they go in against Brendan Rodgers’ champions.
The Buckie striker said: “Stephen is my cousin. It is my mum’s sister’s son.
“I grew up with Stephen and now he has kicked on and I have gone the opposite a wee bit in terms of our footballing careers.
“We are both still playing at good levels. It is testament to our parents.
“We grew up together and we still keep in touch.
“We have never played against each other and we never thought it would happen until now.
“My family is split down the middle with either Rangers or Celtic. The Celtic fans are through my mum and my cousin’s side.
“My dad’s side is all Rangers and I am included in that. There will be a few in the Celtic end and the
Rangers fans will be disguised as Buckie fans.
“It is going to be an interesting one for the family.”
The Celtic defender was one of the first people in touch when Buckie were drawn at Parkhead.
Peters said: “We, as a family, had talked about it but you never really think it is going to happen until now. I saw Stephen over the Christmas period.
“We joked about getting drawn against each other.
“We had just talked about it and he was the first person to text me. We couldn’t believe it.”
The 27-year-old had a spell in the youth ranks at Hibs, where he played alongside the likes of Oli Shaw and Ryan Porteous.
Since then Peters has had something of a nomadic career.
He turned professional with Forfar and won a move to Livingston before he moved on to have spells with Queen’s Park, Stirling Albion and Elgin City.
He moved to the Highland League in 2022. Peters said: “Buckie is probably the best team I have been involved in over the past four or five years. We have young players that could go up a level or two.”