The first ever all-Tayside Scottish Cup final is tantalisingly close.
After avoiding each other in the last four draw, Dundee United and St Johnstone are just one win away from the Celtic Park end of season showpiece.
Saints know the task they are faced with knocking out competition favourites Aberdeen. For United, unless Albion Rovers can play another game of their lives, Rangers lie in wait.
Given Saints’ history of Scottish Cup heartache, and the recent heavy defeat to the Dons in the League Cup semi, expectation is probably stronger in Dundee than Perth.
But here are five reasons for each team to be optimistic that in a month’s time we could be looking forward to a Courier country cup final.St Johnstone1 Dons fatigue/Saints freshness
Derek McInnes has a vastly experienced core to his side. Russell Anderson, Willo Flood and Barry Robson have all been important players for him this season.
But his recent comment (after the last match against Saints, ironically) that some of his team were “running on empty” may suggest that their season has already peaked.
There shouldn’t be any worries on the fatigue front for Saints. Steven MacLean is back from a long lay-off, James Dunne has added dynamism to the Perth midfield after being signed in January, and Lee Croft’s season only really began a couple of months ago.
2 The last semi-final
Not many teams lose 4-0 despite being the better side for much of the game. That was the case though at Tynecastle in the League Cup. No freak opening goal, and no subsequent chasing of the match, and it could have been a Saints win in Edinburgh. The Saints players will be highly motivated to put things right at Ibrox, and they won’t leave themselves as exposed to a counter-attack either.
3 League Cup final win
If Aberdeen beat Inverness Caley Thistle on Sunday, the ending of their trophy drought will be long celebrated in the Granite City. With a place in Europe all but tied up in the league, it will take all of McInnes’s managerial skills to persuade his players that their season’s mission has not already been accomplished. Many a team has gone on their holidays after a League Cup final win just ask St Mirren and Kilmarnock fans about that.
4 League Cup final defeat
Aberdeen are red hot favourites, but what if they lose to the Highlanders? All that pressure they thought had been lifted, will be right back on the Dons players. And then some.
5 Law of averages
Saints have never won a Scottish Cup semi-final, despite getting to that stage eight times, and they’ve never beaten Aberdeen in a national cup competition (and they haven’t scored against the Dons in four game this season). If at first you don’t succeed, and all that. Or second, third, fourth..Dundee United1 Quality
Let’s be blunt, Dundee United are a much better team than Rangers. Would Jackie McNamara swap any of his players for one of Ally McCoist’s? The top man at Ibrox is Lee Wallace but Gordon Strachan preferred Andy Robertson to him when he selected his last Scotland squad, and I certainly wouldn’t disagree. Put it this way, Robertson bombing down the United left on Richard Foster is a bigger worry for McCoist than Wallace coming up against Keith Watson on the opposite flank for McNamara.
2 Form
Rangers’ performances are getting steadily worse, United’s are getting steadily better. “The form book goes out of the window in the cup,” we’re always told. More often than not, it doesn’t.
3 Motivation
There’s no doubt Rangers won’t be lacking on this front. Winning a national cup competition (the Ramsdens doesn’t count), and in so doing making a point to the Premiership clubs who sent them down the leagues, is their Holy Grail. The fact that they could lift the cup at Celtic Park has only added to the fervour. But they were just as fired up when they came to Tannadice last season, and it made little difference in a one-sided thrashing that day. Also, United aren’t wanting for motivation either. This team could be broken up in the summer when their young stars could be lured away by English riches, so there will be a determination to make sure this side is remembered as winners, not just entertainers.
4 Styles
This is a perfect match-up for United. The home fans (sorry, my mistake, Rangers won’t be at home will they) will demand that their team take the game to United. That will suit the slick pass-and-move Tangerines, who have proved against better teams than Rangers that they can be ruthless on the counter. ICT will testify to that.
5 Nadir Ciftci
A couple of months ago Lee McCulloch famously came away with the bold statement: “Having played in the SPL myself before, I don’t think there’s that much of a gap between the top flight and League One.”
If and when he comes up against Ciftci, the form striker in the Premiership, he may want to revise that opinion. A warning Lee..he’s even bit better than Chris Dallas of Albion Rovers.