Scottish Cup: Airdrie v Hearts preview: Rhys McCabe & Callum Fordyce eye shock

It's a relatively rare sight in senior football these days to have a player-manager in your team - let alone two at the heart of your defence.

Yet Airdrie boss Rhys McCabe and assistant Callum Fordyce have turned their formidable defensive partnership on the field into a successful coaching duo off it.

It might help that the 31-year-olds are cousins, and the pair also believe their playing partnership in the Diamonds backline has been a key part of their thriving coaching career.

"Our dynamic's probably different from other managers and assistant managers because they're usually at the side of the park," Fordyce tells BBC Scotland.

"We're playing next to each other on the pitch so it's probably easier than what people might think.

"We're constantly in communication - talking about the game, where we can improve, what's going going well, if changes need to be made.

"We've known each other a long time, we know each other inside out, so with those conversations you're more or less on the same parallel.

"There'll be moments that Rhys makes a decision and I might not be in agreement with him but you go with that - you bounce off each other and challenge each other."

The pair took charge at Airdrie in May 2022 after the departure of previous boss Ian Murray when both were still in their 20s.

Since then they have taken Airdrie to fifth in the Championship after beating Hamilton in the promotion play-offs last term, reached next month's Challenge Cup final against Welsh side The New Saints, and knocked St Johnstone out of the Scottish Cup.

Their progress has not gone unnoticed, with Steven Naismith - manager of Sunday's opponents Hearts - a confirmed fan.

Ibrox youth product McCabe played for Rangers in the 2011-12 season and Naismith remembers being impressed by him.

"Good game intelligence was a characteristic of his [McCabe] when he was a player," the Hearts boss said.

"He wasn't the quickest but he was a good footballer with a good touch and he could see a pass.

"He is really impressive and is a good guy who works hard and it's credit to him they are playing well and have a good style of football."

Fordyce celebrates during the Championship play-off semi final first leg against Falkirk last year

'We have an identity'

Sunday presents their biggest challenge yet - playing host to in-form Hearts in the Scottish Cup fifth round, live on BBC One Scotland.

McCabe hopes it will help increase his and Fordyce's managerial reputation further.

"We're relatively new and there's always going to be question marks," he said.

"Doing it on a weekly basis in our league is great - but we don't often get the opportunity to test ourselves against so-called top opposition. When we have, I think we've played five teams in the Premiership and won four of them.

"We want to test ourselves against the best and we know the challenge ahead - they're a really good team and arguably one of the biggest clubs in Scotland.

"We've got to be on our game but are fully confident on the back of everything we do, we've got an identity and style that I'm going to stick to regardless."