Dons take heart from home draw

aberdeen pull jambos at home – with both managers having wished to avoid top-flight opposition

By paul third

Published:

Aberdeen will start their bid to make it to Hampden with a home game against Hearts following yesterday’s Scottish Cup fourth-round draw.

The two clubs – who finished best of the rest in the SPL last season – will meet in the tie of the round at Pittodrie on January 9, 2010.

The fact that Aberdeen are at home is the only crumb of comfort for manager Mark McGhee, whose side drew 1-1 with the Jambos in a league game at Pittodrie this season. The Dons would have been hoping for an easier opening game – and Hearts manager Csaba Laszlo was also hoping to avoid SPL opposition.

Laszlo said: “Aberdeen are a very heavy opponent but if you would like to move forward in a cup competition to the next stage you must beat Aberdeen.

“This is the first tie for us and we cannot do anything about the draw. We play who we are given. Everybody maybe hoped to have an easier opponent but this is the life.”

Caley Thistle’s management team of Terry Butcher and Maurice Malpas will face their former club Motherwell for the second time this season after being drawn at home to the Steelmen. Ten-man Caley Jags took Well to extra time in the League Cup earlier this season before losing 3-2 and Butcher will be looking for a similar strong showing from his players against his former club.

Rangers face Hamilton Accies in the competition for the second season running, having exorcised some of the demons of their shock 1987 defeat by Accies with a 5-1 quarter-final win.

But former Ibrox captain Richard Gough reckons the Lanarkshire men have every chance of causing another upset on January 10, given Rangers’s recent form.

Gough said. “You are always on dangerous territory away from home. League games are different.

“Smaller teams always think they’ve got a chance in the cup if they catch you on a bad day – and they have.

“So you’ve got to be right up for the game and play to your potential. If Hamilton play well, you can slip up. It’s happened before, it’s happened to me.

“In the Scottish Cup, I think I won three out of 10 attempts. I was much more successful in the League Cup for some reason. We slipped up a few times and there is potential for a slip-up.

“It won’t be an easy game the way Rangers are playing.”

Celtic are also away, against Morton or Dumbarton, while Kilmarnock host Falkirk.

Dundee United travel to Glasgow to play former Arabs manager Ian McCall’s Partick Thistle and St Johnstone visit Forfar, while St Mirren will host the winners of the replay between Cowdenbeath and Alloa.

Edinburgh City look to have the best chance of moving into the last 16 out of all the non-league clubs after drawing Montrose at home, but the Gable Endies have reserved their best form for the competition, their only wins this season coming in the tournament.