Charlie Christie: Results in Scottish Cup weren’t really shocks
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Last Saturday’s Scottish Cup fourth round results threw up few genuine shocks although I’m hoping Brora Rangers will be able to buck that trend when they play their twice-postponed tie against League One play-off hopefuls Cove Rangers on Tuesday.
Whilst Airdrie’s home win over St Johnstone and Partick Thistle’s convincing away win at Ross County raised a few eyebrows they can’t really be considered as huge surprises given the recent form of the four sides.
It was perhaps only Bonnyrigg Rose’s last-minute winner at home to last season’s semi-finalists Falkirk that would come under the banner of ‘significant upset’.
Following on from those ties the fifth-round draw was made on Sunday evening and, after studying the draw more closely, there is a chance that the quarter finals might consist of eight teams from the Scottish Premier league although I hope this is not the case.
ICT disposed of Broomhill without too much fuss and were handed a home tie against Nick Montgomery’s inconsistent Hibernian side, and it is a tie we are certainly capable of winning. Partick will be confident of progressing as they face Premier strugglers Livingston at Firhill with Morton and Airdrie also very capable of upsetting the odds at home against Hearts and Motherwell.
The winner of the two north sides, Brora and Cove were handed a very tough tie against Kilmarnock, and it is difficult to see anything but a Killie win given the progress Derek MacInnes has made at the Ayrshire club and Derek will be eyeing up a cup run to further enhance the successful campaign they are enjoying so far.
Cup holders Celtic will not relish a trip to Paisley, a venue where they have toiled in the past, although they won there comfortably earlier this month in the league when they swept St Mirren aside with two goals in the opening six minutes.
Rightly or wrongly the media focus may well be on Glasgow Rangers home tie against Ayr United given the appointment this week of Scot Brown as Ayr’s new manager. He has obvious history with the Ibrox faithful as Celtic captain and leader, and he will no doubt be given a warm welcome when the game comes around.
Brown will be keen to bounce back from his indifferent first managerial stint at Fleetwood Town and he started his Ayr tenure earlier this week with a much-needed league win against Arbroath. He has and always will be a character who divides opinion, but nobody can argue with his trophy haul of 10 SPL titles, six Scottish Cup wins and seven League Cup wins – a winners’ cabinet that very few people in the modern era of Scottish football can rival.
