THEIR uniform might be a white shirt and school tie but the pupils at Auchinleck Academy have been getting more black and gold recently.

And when their heroes turn up for a visit, they’d probably be doing lines if they didn’t bring out their scarves and flags.

One pupil, Hayley Millar even brought along her tickets for Talbot’s big match with Hearts this Sunday and, like everyone else, she’s buzzing for the game.

The 15-year-old, who sells the match programmes at Beechwood Park, said: “I’ve followed Talbot ever since I was a wee lassie and I get absolutely excited about every single game.

“It’s amazing that we’ve got so far, you wouldn’t expect it and I had that gut feeling with Ayr that we would win.

“I’ve been to all the Scottish Cup games and I’m definitely not missing this one. I’m going to get the bus and I’ll be singing. I’m always very loud.”

Guidance teacher Steven Tickner has been overawed by the way the village rallies behind its team and the pupils have managed to convert him into an avid Talbot supporter.

He said: “When I came here 13 years ago, I knew Talbot were a big team, but I didn’t realise quite how big.

“Once I saw the passion from the pupils and the community, I started following Talbot and kind of caught the bug.”

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After the joy of the Ayr game however, Mr Tickner revealed that he and a few of the pupils are heartbroken that they will be missing the Hearts game.

“I can’t believe it but we’re away,” he added.

“We’ve got the school ski trip next week so myself and a few of the pupils will be out in Italy skiing but we’re going to take the flags and the scarves with us and we’re going to send out a good luck message from Italy for Auchinleck.

“I’m going to convert a few Italians into Auchinleck fans, and we’ll do everything we can to find out what the score is on Sunday.

“I’m absolutely gutted, as are the pupils who are going, that we’re missing the game, but we can’t move it unfortunately.”

Two pupils who won’t be missing the game are Greig Richmond and Jason Lamont – and they have big aspirations.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Greig said. “Here’s hoping we can get a victory.

“Last time we played them it was an unfortunate 1-0 defeat but with high hopes, I think that Auchinleck Talbot might win.”

Jason added: “I can’t wait to go, and I hope Talbot can pull off a shock result. They did it in the last round so lets hope they can do it this time.

“It brings the whole community together, the players coming in to acknowledge the support they are getting from the school and you see all the folk turning up today to support them.”

With the last word before everyone departed back for class, Hayley summed up the mood among the entire Talbot support.

“I hope we’re going to win.”