Raith Rovers boss Grant Murray has warned his players they could be on the receiving end of a shock if they underestimate Ramsdens Cup semi-final opponents Annan Athletic.
Rovers head into Sunday’s big game at Stark’s Park as firm favourites to book a final berth against either Stenhousemuir or Rangers in April, and will be expected to despatch a side placed two divisions below them in the SPFL.
But Murray insisted no-one at the Kirkcaldy club can look forward to any Ramsdens Cup showpiece until they fulfil their part of the bargain at the semi-final stage.
“It’s a big game for both sets of players, and the stakes are high,” he said.
“Annan are in the semi-final for a reason. At the end of the day, anything can happen in semi-finals.
“Ross County were in the Scottish Cup semi-final against Celtic when we were in the other semi-final that year and it probably played a big part in Dundee United being up for that game more than maybe we were, realising that Ross County had just turned Celtic over the day before.
“So we don’t underestimate Annan whatsoever we know ourselves going into one-off cup games that anything can happen.
“We know it from our league as well. You can be on the best run but if you take your foot off the gas everyone is capable of beating everyone.
“With the lads we’ve got in the squad, they’ll know going into Sunday’s game that if they don’t address it properly or start properly, they are giving Annan a chance to turn us over and get to the final themselves.”
Murray has had a decent semi-final record as a player, having been on the winning side with Hearts against Falkirk en route to winning the Scottish Cup in 1998 and then again with Kilmarnock when they beat Falkirk in the 2007 League Cup semi-final.
However, he was on the losing side when Raith last reached a national semi-final in 2010, when they went down 2-0 to Dundee United at Hampden.
He continued: “It doesn’t matter whether it’s the League Cup, Ramsdens Cup, Scottish Cup, a lot of the players may never play in semi-finals or finals because they don’t come around very often. For everyone involved at the club it would be great to be involved in the Ramsdens Cup final. I went along to the final last year and it was a great occasion at Livingston’s stadium.
“It was an exciting game and I’d love for Raith to be there, but we’ve got to overturn Annan first. A lot of people will favour us because we’re at home but I don’t think that matters.
“Annan will come with the same attitude as us, to try and win the game. I think they’ll come and have a go at us, which is fair.
“When we played Hearts in the League Cup and there was no way I wanted to sit in. I wanted to have a go at them and give yourself every opportunity of getting through.
“I think Annan will do the same.”
A short stroll around the corridors in the bowels of Stark’s Park brings with it a plethora of pictures marking Raith’s last cup victory, the Coca-Cola Cup triumph over Celtic in 1994, and Murray would love to add some special memories of his own this season.
“You see some of the players who were involved in that game, with photos of the cup, and I’m sure all the lads playing in the Raith Rovers team just now would like it to be them,” he said.
“We’re not even a quarter of the way through the season and being involved in a semi-final is great for the players, but I think they understand that it’s an important game and it’s one where the stakes are high for both clubs.”