News

MANAGER Paul Hartley is delighted we have been drawn away to Premiership leaders Rangers in the third round of the Scottish Cup.

Our first visit to Ibrox will take place over the weekend of January 30, the actual date and kick-off will be confirmed as soon as possible.

Paul said: “It’s a brilliant draw, we wanted a big, glamour tie.

“Going to Ibrox is exciting for all of those people at the club, especially the chairman, who have worked for many years to get us to where we are now.

“It’s also great for the Cove players who haven’t had the opportunity to play at Ibrox before.

“The only downside is there will be no fans there to watch it.

“It’s obviously a huge challenge too because Rangers are the country’s form team at the moment.

“It’s one we are looking forward too though because you want to test yourself against the best.”

Paul praised the players for securing the showdown with Rangers  with a 3-2 second round win away to Championship side Alloa Athletic.

We came from behind twice to secure victory with a sensational 90th minute free-kick by defender Ryan Strachan.

“We deserved it, from start to finish we were the better team,” said Paul.

“Some of our play was magnificent and we created so many chances.

“Sometimes you can think it’s not your day but the players kept going and got their reward.

“We should have been ahead at half-time but I said to the players during the interval that it was important they stuck at it.

“I told them we would get more opportunities if we continued to play the same way and that’s what happened.

“They remained calm and kept passing the ball and waited for the right moments to strike.

“Every player on the park was great, they followed the game plan perfectly.

“We knew Alloa were a possession based team so we had to play them in the right manner.

“They are in the top three of the Championship in terms of the way they pass and move with the ball.

“We felt if we could match them the game would suit us if we remained composed and didn’t get ragged at any stage.

“We kept moving the ball and working to create openings.

“The winning goal was a fantastic strike from Ryan Strachan and it was the least we deserved for all that we had put into the tie.”

Article Copyright © 2020. Permission to use quotations from this article online is only granted subject to appropriate source credit and hyperlink to www.coverangersfc.com

Scottish Cup Gallery 1 | Alloa Athletic »