This weekend, the William Hill Scottish Cup returns with four intriguing looking Quarter-Final ties between three Premiership sides, four Championship teams and a sole representative from the bottom tier of Scottish football.
The action commences on Friday night when Championship high-flyers, Queen of the South host a Falkirk side yet to taste defeat since last November. The sides have met three times already this season, two 1-1 draws sandwiching a dominant Queen of the South victory in Dumfries.
On Saturday afternoon, Raith Rovers make the 149 mile journey from Fife to Inverness’s Tulloch Caledonian Stadium. Rovers, who brushed aside Rangers at Ibrox in the previous round have reached the Quarter-Final stage for the first time since 2010, in which they narrowly beat Dundee FC before crashing out to eventual winners Dundee United in the Semi-Final’s. Hugh Murray suggests his side should go into the match with no fear having lost just once since the beginning of December. The hosts, Inverness currently sit at third spot in the Scottish Premiership will be hoping for an immediate response from last weekend’s defeat to Motherwell.
Sunday, we are treated to two massive matches, the first taking place at Easter Road with Alan Stubbs’ impressive Hibernian taking on the second lowest ranked team in the Scottish Professional League. Having won just two league matches so far in 2015, the away side, Berwick Rangers will certainly be going into the tie as the underdogs, however, at times this season, Hibs have struggled to perform whilst under intense expectation to win. Overall, Hibernian have a successful campaign, sitting four points ahead of Rangers in second place and undefeated since the first weekend in December.
The final match of this tasty looking weekend sees arguably the two favourites for the Cup battle it out in what will be the first of three matches between the clubs in three weeks as Dundee United face current Scottish Premiership champions, Celtic. Since the departure of influential midfielders Stuart Armstrong and Gary Mackay-Steven, United have certainly suffered a blip in form, their last victory coming in the last round of this weekend’s Cup. However, the news that mercurial talent, Nadir Ciftci has escaped suspension will be a huge lift for last years runners up. Celtic, too come into the match off the back of a defeat, suffering a 1-0 loss to St Johnstone in midweek. Although in possession of the strongest and most in depth squad in the league, injury to Commons, Guidetti and defenders Izaguirre and Mathews will be a huge blow for the Glasgow side.
Joseph’s predictions
Queen of the South 2 v 1 Falkirk
Inverness 2 v 0 Raith Rovers
Hibernian 3 v 0 Berwick Rangers
Dundee United 1 v 3 Celtic
The action commences on Friday night when Championship high-flyers, Queen of the South host a Falkirk side yet to taste defeat since last November. The sides have met three times already this season, two 1-1 draws sandwiching a dominant Queen of the South victory in Dumfries.
On Saturday afternoon, Raith Rovers make the 149 mile journey from Fife to Inverness’s Tulloch Caledonian Stadium. Rovers, who brushed aside Rangers at Ibrox in the previous round have reached the Quarter-Final stage for the first time since 2010, in which they narrowly beat Dundee FC before crashing out to eventual winners Dundee United in the Semi-Final’s. Hugh Murray suggests his side should go into the match with no fear having lost just once since the beginning of December. The hosts, Inverness currently sit at third spot in the Scottish Premiership will be hoping for an immediate response from last weekend’s defeat to Motherwell.
Sunday, we are treated to two massive matches, the first taking place at Easter Road with Alan Stubbs’ impressive Hibernian taking on the second lowest ranked team in the Scottish Professional League. Having won just two league matches so far in 2015, the away side, Berwick Rangers will certainly be going into the tie as the underdogs, however, at times this season, Hibs have struggled to perform whilst under intense expectation to win. Overall, Hibernian have a successful campaign, sitting four points ahead of Rangers in second place and undefeated since the first weekend in December.
The final match of this tasty looking weekend sees arguably the two favourites for the Cup battle it out in what will be the first of three matches between the clubs in three weeks as Dundee United face current Scottish Premiership champions, Celtic. Since the departure of influential midfielders Stuart Armstrong and Gary Mackay-Steven, United have certainly suffered a blip in form, their last victory coming in the last round of this weekend’s Cup. However, the news that mercurial talent, Nadir Ciftci has escaped suspension will be a huge lift for last years runners up. Celtic, too come into the match off the back of a defeat, suffering a 1-0 loss to St Johnstone in midweek. Although in possession of the strongest and most in depth squad in the league, injury to Commons, Guidetti and defenders Izaguirre and Mathews will be a huge blow for the Glasgow side.
Joseph’s predictions
Queen of the South 2 v 1 Falkirk
Inverness 2 v 0 Raith Rovers
Hibernian 3 v 0 Berwick Rangers
Dundee United 1 v 3 Celtic