Ayr United manager Ian McCall reckons that his side have a "puncher’s chance" of beating Rangers at Ibrox on Wednesday in their Betfred Cup quarter-final.
The Somerset Park outfit lead the Ladbrokes Championship after their 2-0 win at Alloa Athletic on Saturday, but McCall knows Steven Gerrard's men are a big step up in class.
McCall explained: “No-one expects us to do anything and we will go there knowing that we are underdogs but knowing we can spring a surprise as we are a side that can score goals. That gives us a chance, a ‘puncher’s chance’, of doing something.”
“We have been in a couple of cup quarter-finals during my time here and not won through to the next stage. It would be great to do that but I know Rangers are a side full of good players who can hurt you with their pace.”
McCall added: “We know that it will be tough to win through but we are going to Ibrox with confidence after a good win at Alloa at the weekend. That win took us back to top spot in the Championship and our second half display was up there with the best I have seen from the players.
“Lawrence Shankland again showed what a good goalscorer that he is with two terrific finishes. It would be great if he could show that again at Ibrox.”
The Honest Men met the Ibrox side in the Scottish Cup back in February and lost 6-1 however McCall does not read too much into that game as he was not there and he had to field a side minus six experienced players due to injury.
McCall said: “I had to undergo an operation on an eye problem a couple of days before that tie. I was not allowed to go due to doctor’s orders and I had to watch it at home. We made a terrific start when we scored early, however it then became painful viewing in a number of ways afterwards.
“That can happen against big teams especially when you are missing a lot of experience and it will not form any part of our discussions for this game.”
Chris Higgins misses out through an ankle injury however former Aberdeen defender Daniel Harvie is available after suspension.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here