THIS weekend’s Scottish Cup quarter-finals sees four favourites at home to four underdogs and I’d expect the quartet of bigger teams all to make it through.
But there is something quite liberating about going into a game as a player completely unfancied to do anything. I used to love that feeling and I’m sure the players from Hamilton Accies, Partick Thistle, Ayr United and St Mirren will be similarly fired up and looking to cause a shock.
They’ve happened in the past so there is no reason why there can’t be an upset this weekend either.
Fans of this weekend’s big four – Celtic, Rangers, Hibs and Aberdeen – will all remember those Scottish Cup shocks, too. Celtic infamously lost to Clyde on Roy Keane’s debut, were beaten by Inverness at the end of the John Barnes era and again to the same team in the semis a few years back.
Rangers lost to Hamilton at home 30 years ago which might be in some of their supporters’ minds when the teams meet again tomorrow, Hibs will still be pained by the memory of the 5-1 thrashing by Hearts in the 2012 final – not a shock as such but a sore one nevertheless – while Aberdeen had their semi-final defeat to Queen of the South in 2008 as one of many cup upsets they have endured over the years. They haven’t won this cup for 27 years which is an age for a club of their stature.
Despite those historical blips I still see all four big guns making it through to set up what should be two cracking semi-finals, regardless of how the draw pans out. Aberdeen take on a Partick Thistle side on Sunday who haven’t beaten them in their previous nine attempts.
The Dons have won seven of those so, based on recent history, they have the Indian sign over their opponents. If it had been at Firhill I might have given Thistle more of a chance but Aberdeen have lost only once at Pittodrie all season. Their home record is phenomenal. Derek McInnes now demands his players regularly reach semi-finals and finals so you know they will be giving it everything on Sunday.
Rangers’ form has been up and down of late but they’re facing a Hamilton side who traditionally don’t travel well and have won just two away games all season, both in cup ties against Edinburgh City and Kilmarnock.
They did well at Ibrox on the opening game of the season and will go into this tie with confidence after beating Aberdeen in midweek, but Rangers’ home record is very good with just that one defeat to Celtic. Last year’s defeat to Hibs in the final will still be a sore point, too, as they really threw that one away from a commanding position. They will be desperate to make amends this year.
Ayr actually have a pretty decent record against Hibs this season - and have won and drawn at Easter Road already – so they might fancy their chances of getting another positive result.
But if Hibs can get near the levels they showed in the last round of the cup against Hearts then they ought to be too strong for Ayr. As holders they will also be determined to keep their defence of the trophy going for as long as they can.
Celtic ought to be too strong for my old club St Mirren on Sunday but I only have to look back to the semi-final of the 2013 League Cup as a reminder that unexpected things can happen in football. We went into that game as massive, massive underdogs.
The Celtic team of that time weren’t the all-conquering force they have become under Brendan Rodgers this season but we still weren’t given a chance. And I loved that.
Being an underdog means there is next to no pressure on you as there is so little expectation. As a player there’s this slight psychological shift from the usual situation where there is pressure on your shoulders going into a game.
Our manager Danny Lennon was really big on positive thinking and making the players feel they could do it. He told us to forget that we were playing Celtic and just to focus on the fact it was 11 against 11.
Austin McPhee, now at Hearts, also did a lot of analysis on Celtic and the longer the week went on, the more prepared we felt going into it. We hadn’t scored in our eight previous games against Celtic but we were undeterred.
Tommy Craig gave a brilliant pre-match speech to rouse us and we put in what I consider to be St Mirren’s greatest performance in my five years at the club – and I include winning the final among that. John McGinn was just a teenager but he dominated Victor Wanyama that day.
We won all our battles across the pitch, Craig Samson saved a penalty and we went on to win 3-2. So these are the sort of stories the four underdogs will need to cling to this weekend if they are to have any chance of adding to the long list of Scottish Cup shocks.
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