# 2015–16 Scottish Cup

The 2015–16 Scottish Cup was the 131st season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. The tournament was sponsored by bookmaker William Hill in what was the fifth season of a five-year partnership. The final was contested between second-tier clubs (Hibernian and Rangers) for the first time ever with no Premiership clubs reaching the final.
The defending champions were Inverness Caledonian Thistle, who defeated Falkirk in the 2015 final, but were eventually knocked out in the Quarter Final after a replay by eventual champions, Hibernian.

## Media coverage

From round four onwards, selected matches from the Scottish Cup were broadcast live in Ireland and the UK by BBC Scotland and Sky Sports. BBC Scotland had the option to show one tie per round with Sky Sports showing two ties per round with one replay; also, Sky Sports broadcast both semi-finals live with one also on BBC Scotland and both channels screened the final live.

## Calendar

The calendar for the 2015–16 Scottish Cup qualifying rounds, as announced by Scottish Football Association.
| Round | Main date | Number of fixtures | Clubs | New Entries |
| Preliminary round 1 | 15 August 2015 | 5 | 92 → 87 | 10 |
| Preliminary round 2 | 5 September 2015 | 5 | 87 → 82 | 5 |
| First round | 26 September 2015 | 18 | 82 → 64 | 31 |
| Second round | 24 October 2015 | 16 | 64 → 48 | 14 |
| Third round | 28 November 2015 | 16 | 48 → 32 | 16 |
| Fourth round | 9 January 2016 | 16 | 32 → 16 | 16 |
| Fifth round | 6 February 2016 | 8 | 16 → 8 | None |
| Quarter-finals | 5 March 2016 | 4 | 8 → 4 | None |
| Semi-finals | 16 & 17 April 2016 | 2 | 4 → 2 | None |
| Final | 21 May 2016 | 1 | 2 → 1 | None |

## Preliminary rounds
### Preliminary round 1

The preliminary round 1 took place on Saturday 15 August 2015. The round had 15 clubs which included 5 matches and 5 byes to the Second Preliminary Round. The teams competing in this round were made up of teams from the Scottish Highland Football League, Scottish Lowland Football League, ESL, SSL, Scottish Junior FA and the Scottish Amateur FA. It was the first time that the winners of the Scottish Amateur Cup had participated in the Scottish Cup.

#### Draw

Hawick Royal Albert, Kelty Hearts, Auchinleck Talbot, Hermes and Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale all received byes to the preliminary round 2.

#### Matches
### Preliminary round 2

The preliminary round 2 took place on Saturday 5 September 2015. The round had 10 clubs which included 5 matches. The teams competing in this round were made up of 5 winners from Round 1 and the 5 Byes from Round one.

#### Replay
## First round
### Draw

There were 18 ties taking place in Round 1 of the Scottish Cup. The draw took place on Tuesday, 28 August 2015.
Teams in italics were not known at the time of the draw. Teams in Bold advanced to the second round.
| Highland Football League | Lowland Football League | Other |
| Buckie Thistle Clachnacuddin Cove Rangers Deveronvale Formartine United Forres Mechanics Fort William Fraserburgh Huntly Inverurie Loco Works Keith Lossiemouth Nairn County Rothes Strathspey Thistle Wick Academy | BSC Glasgow Cumbernauld Colts Dalbeattie Star Edinburgh University Gala Fairydean Rovers Gretna 2008 Preston Athletic Selkirk Spartans Threave Rovers Stirling University Whitehill Welfare | East of Scotland League teams Coldstream Hawick Royal Albert Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale SJFA teams Auchinleck Talbot Banks O’Dee Kelty Hearts Linlithgow Rose SAFA teams Glasgow University |

### Replays
## Second round
### Draw

There were 16 ties taking place in Round 2 of the Scottish Cup. The draw took place on Thursday, 1 October 2015.
Teams in italics were not known at the time of the draw. Teams in Bold advanced to the third round.
| Scottish League Two | Highland Football League | Lowland Football League | Other |
| Annan Athletic Arbroath Berwick Rangers Clyde East Fife East Stirlingshire Elgin City Montrose Queen's Park Stirling Albion | Brora Rangers Buckie Thistle Clachnacuddin Cove Rangers Formartine United Forres Mechanics Fort William Fraserburgh Huntly Inverurie Loco Works Nairn County Turriff United Wick Academy | Cumbernauld Colts East Kilbride Edinburgh City Edinburgh University Spartans Stirling University | East of Scotland League teams Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale SJFA teams Auchinleck Talbot Linlithgow Rose |

### Replays
## Third round
### Draw

There were 16 ties taking place in Round 3 of the Scottish Cup. The draw took place on Thursday, 29 October 2015 and was conducted by former Scotland manager Alex McLeish, who won the Scottish Cup both as a player and a manager.
Teams in italics were not known at the time of the draw. Teams in Bold advanced to the fourth round.
| Scottish Championship | Scottish League One | Scottish League Two | Highland Football League | Lowland Football League | Other |
| Alloa Athletic Dumbarton Falkirk Greenock Morton Livingston Raith Rovers | Airdrieonians Albion Rovers Ayr United Brechin City Cowdenbeath Dunfermline Athletic Forfar Athletic Peterhead Stenhousemuir Stranraer | Annan Athletic Arbroath Elgin City Queen's Park Stirling Albion | Buckie Thistle Cove Rangers Formartine United Fraserburgh Huntly Inverurie Loco Works Wick Academy | Cumbernauld Colts East Kilbride | East of Scotland League teams Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale SJFA teams Linlithgow Rose |

### Replays
## Fourth round
### Draw

There were 16 ties taking place in Round 4 of the Scottish Cup. The draw took place on Tuesday, 1 December 2015.
Teams in italics were not known at the time of the draw. Teams in Bold advanced to the fifth round.
| Scottish Premiership | Scottish Championship | Scottish League One | Scottish League Two | Other |
| Aberdeen Celtic Dundee Dundee United Hamilton Academical Heart of Midlothian Inverness Caledonian Thistle Kilmarnock Motherwell Partick Thistle Ross County St Johnstone | Dumbarton Falkirk Greenock Morton Hibernian Livingston Queen of the South Raith Rovers Rangers St Mirren | Airdrieonians Cowdenbeath Dunfermline Athletic Forfar Athletic Stranraer | Annan Athletic Stirling Albion | Highland Football League Cove Rangers Lowland Football League East Kilbride East of Scotland League Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale SJFA East Region Super League Linlithgow Rose |

### Replays
## Fifth round
### Draw

There were 8 ties taking place in Round 5 of the Scottish Cup. The draw took place on Monday, 11 January 2016.
Teams in italics were not known at the time of the draw. Teams in Bold advanced to the quarter-finals.
| Scottish Premiership | Scottish Championship | Scottish League Two | Other |
| Celtic Dundee Dundee United Heart of Midlothian Inverness Caledonian Thistle Kilmarnock Motherwell Partick Thistle Ross County | Dumbarton Greenock Morton Hibernian Rangers | Annan Athletic | Lowland Football League East Kilbride SJFA teams Linlithgow Rose |

### Replays
## Quarter-finals
### Draw

There were four ties taking place in the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup. The draw took place on Monday, 8 February 2016 and was conducted by Scottish Cup winner and former Celtic midfielder Ľubomír Moravčík. The draw, broadcast live on Sky Sports News, has become infamous since it had to be aborted due to one ball breaking open in the pot. After a delay, the draw was completed successfully at the second attempt.
All matches were played on the weekend of 5/6 March 2016.
Teams in italics were not known at the time of the draw. Teams in Bold advanced to the semi-finals.
| Scottish Premiership | Scottish Championship |
| Celtic Dundee Dundee United Inverness Caledonian Thistle Ross County | Greenock Morton Hibernian Rangers |

### Replays
## Semi-finals
### Draw

The draw took place on Sunday, 6 March 2016 live on Sky Sports News HQ. Both matches were played on the weekend of 16/17 April 2016.
Teams in italics were not known at the time of the draw. Teams in Bold advanced to the final.
| Scottish Premiership | Scottish Championship |
| Celtic Dundee United | Hibernian Rangers |

### Matches
## Statistics
### Top goalscorers

    As of matches played on 21 May 2016
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Peter Weatherson | Annan Athletic | 5 |
| 2 | Leigh Griffiths | Celtic | 4 |
| 2 | Anthony Stokes | Hibernian | 4 |
| 2 | Ruari MacLennan | Linlithgow Rose | 4 |
| 2 | Martyn Waghorn | Rangers | 4 |
| 2 | Brian Graham | Ross County | 4 |
| 7 | 9 players | 9 players | 3 |
* NB: Scorers include only those goals from players which were scored from the second round onwards