John Rankin insists the pain of losing a Scottish Cup final to St Johnstone 11 years ago has yet to ease.
Hamilton Accies manager Rankin was a key member of the Dundee United side that progressed to the 2014 final, but lost 2-0 to St Johnstone at Celtic Park.
United had a young and energetic side, full of emerging talent like Andy Robertson, Ryan Gauld, Stuart Armstrong, John Souttar and Gary Mackay-Steven.
However, they fell short in the final and Rankin admits it is a defeat which still hurts all these years later.
Rankin, who will bring his Accies side to face Saints in the fifth round on Saturday, said: “Listen, first and foremost it was a sore one on the day and it still is.
“11 years ago I got to the Scottish Cup final and the squad Dundee United had then, those young players at the time, Ryan Gauld, Gary Mackay-Steven, Stuart Armstrong, John Souttar, Andy Robertson.
“They were all just young guys and we got to the final, which was played at Parkhead that year rather than at Hampden.
“As a young kid brought up in Scotland you want to go and play at Hampden and it was a disappointing we didn’t play there and then an even more disappointing day because St Johnstone won.
“It hurt then and it still hurts now because it was an opportunity to win silverware.
“When I look at the careers those players went onto achieve, if those lads had won silverware early in their careers and getting the experience of doing that so early they could have gone on to have better careers and none of them have had bad ones.
“But I was fortunate to go a play in a very good team but on the day it was a team effort from St Johnstone and they got the job done.
“But any player that’s played in a cup final and lost they’ll tell you it hurts.
“We’re in the last 16 of the Scottish Cup and we need to be a unit, be organised and compact and be aggressive as we’re against a Premiership team and make sure we’re not just making up the numbers, we want to make the game competitive.
“It’ll take a team effort and it has to be that way.”
Hamilton have lost three on the bounce since beating Musselburgh Athletic in the previous round and Rankin hopes a break from league action can be beneficial to them as they look to get back to winning ways.
He said: “Our performances have not been great recently but this is a break from the league and hopefully that can help us to kick start things.
“We’re going into the cup against a Premiership team, whose form has picked up recently, and all the expectations are on them.
“It’s one we’re looking forward to.
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