'We’ll give it a go': Fraserburgh boss wants team to believe in Rangers cup upset

Fraserburgh manager Mark Cowie will encourage his players to believe they can pull off an almighty cup upset at Ibrox.

The mid-table Highland League side are 85-1 with one bookmaker to claim victory against Rangers in the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup fourth round on Sunday.

But the Broch manager, whose side beat League 1 Annan in the previous round, said: “I think in modern day life you have to fill people with hope and belief that they can do something.

“These players here have done remarkable for my last 10 years at this club so why can they not go and do it?

“I mean, you take the draw for instance, you’re sitting watching the draw and it’s hope and dream that you’re going to pull a Rangers or a Celtic away from home and then it happens. So these things can happen.

“Yeah, the likelihood of it happening is very, very, very slim and nobody will give us a chance but we know what we’re capable of.

“We know we need a lot of things to go our way. We need Lady Luck to shine on us. We need 10 out of 10s, maybe 11 out of 10 performances from everyone. I don’t think anybody can let us down and we need Rangers to have a huge off day but these things can happen. You’ve seen upsets in the past.

“It’s going to be more difficult because we’re at Ibrox but my message will be, ‘be brave’. We play in the Highland League week in, week out and the average attendance is maybe 300-400 over a season so that’s our stage. That’s what these players get to play in front of.

“They might get to Scottish Cup second, third rounds against higher opposition and the attendance goes up or they might get to cup finals and the attendance goes up but the most we’ve played is 2,000-3,000 people.

“We’ve now got a showcase in front of X amount of fans in the ground and national television screening as well so the players have got an opportunity here to show what they can do and it’s up to them to grasp it.

“So I’ll be telling them fully just to go, yes, enjoy the occasion but we’ve got a job to do. Stick to the plan, put everything to the side, try and get the emotion out of it and play your best and go and show everyone what we are as players, what we are as a team, what we are as a club.”

Cowie was in charge of Fraserburgh when they lost 3-0 at home to Rangers at this stage seven years ago and his main takeaway from that experience was to ensure they do not show their opponents too much respect.

“The guys we’re going up against on Sunday are human,” he said. “Yes, we’ll treat them with respect because they’ve earned it by being where they are in leagues and in football and they’re professional players.

“But they’re still humans and they can be tackled, they can be put off, they can be pressed. So there is aspects that allow us to be at their level and we are at their level.

“We’re going to be at their level on Sunday. We’re going into that match on an even keel. Two teams in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup try to get into the fifth. So we’ll give it a go.”