John Rankin has warned his Dundee United team-mates that the form book is likely to fly out of the window tonight in their fourth round Scottish Cup tie against Kilmarnock.
The Tangerines approach the game in buoyant mood having netted 13 times in their last four league matches, winning three of the fixtures and drawing the other at Celtic Park.
In contrast, Killie have lost three matches in a row, including last weekend’s home defeat to Motherwell and are languishing second bottom of the Premiership table.
However, Rankin admits his experience tells him that, in a cup game, you should always expect the unexpected.
The midfielder said: “We couldn’t be going into this tie in much better form. But, to be honest, in any cup tie, form goes out the window.
“That’s what I always believe. It’s a one-off game where anything could happen.
“We’ve been getting a lot of plaudits which is fair enough for the way we’ve been playing but Kilmarnock are coming off a bad result in the league last weekend and will be determined to try and put things right.
“It’s a Friday night game. Sometimes it can be harder to get a good atmosphere. We know that it will be a difficult match but hopefully we can get through to the next round.”
While Killie are at the wrong end of the table at the moment, Rankin believes they still have the players who will present a danger to United, especially striker Kris Boyd, who was recalled to the Scotland squad earlier this month.
Rankin said: “Killie have quality players and are in a false position. Look at Kris Boyd. He’s been called into the Scotland squad for the first time in a while and that’s down to his form.
“We’re under no illusions about the kind of tie which lies in store for us. We’ll just need to be ready to roll our sleeves up as it may well turn into a bit of a battle.”
If they do win tonight’s battle, then Rankin admits everyone at the club hopes it will be the launching pad to a sustained run in the cup.
And after the disappointment of crashing out of the League Cup in controversial circumstances last month in Inverness, the 30-year-old insists the players are even more determined to succeed in this competition.
He said: “We would love to go on a cup run. The gaffer has stressed the importance of it so we’ll be right up for it.
“Looking back, we still feel a little bit hard done by the manner in which we lost out in the other cup up in Inverness. We felt we deserved to get into the semi-final so hopefully we can use that as motivation here.
“A few of the boys played in the semi-final of the Scottish Cup last season against Celtic at Hampden. We gave a very good account of ourselves that day and were unfortunate not to get through after extra-time.
“Another cup run would be great. We know what it means to the club.”
United have rightly attracted plenty of plaudits for their attractive attacking play recently.
However, Rankin insists he would readily swap style for substance.
He added: “If we need to win ugly, then so be it. So far this season we’ve been pretty successful in playing flowing football but if we need to show another side to our game then we will.
“We have boys in the dressing-room who have shown they can roll their sleeves up when required. We might have to against Killie as it could turn into a slog but getting into the next round is the bottom line.”
Like Rankin, United boss Jackie McNamara was in no doubt who the big Killie danger man was.
He said: “I think Killie always carry a threat. In the game here a few weeks ago, we played quite well and were leading 1-0 but then Rado (keeper Cierzniak) had to pull off a fantastic save to make sure it stayed that way in the last minute.
“Kris Boyd is probably the biggest threat to us and we have to make sure we keep him quiet. But it is about what we do and if we play the same way we have been, then we should be OK.”
Gary Mackay-Steven and Stuart Armstrong have both recovered from knocks sustained in last Saturday’s game against Partick Thistle but Ryan Gauld and Gavin Gunning face late fitness tests.