ROSS County manager Derek Adams hopes his side will be rewarded for reaching the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup for the first time in the club’s history with a tie against one of the SPL’s powerhouses tomorrow.
County sealed their place in the draw with a 9-0 demolition of Second Division title chasers Stirling Albion at Victoria Park on Saturday and Adams wants one half of the Old Firm or his former club Aberdeen in the last eight.
The Dons must overcome Raith Rovers in next week’s replay, while Rangers have to beat St Mirren second time around, but Adams is daring to dream.
He said: “I’d like to face a big team in the next round – a match which would generate good revenue for us.
“A First Division club would like a money-spinning tie in the quarter-finals, but we will take whoever comes out the hat on Wednesday.
“I would love to draw one of the Old Firm or Aberdeen.
“They all take huge travelling support with them – the Dons had 3,400 supporters behind them at Raith on Saturday – and if we got one of them at home it would be a special day for the club and we could attract television interest, too.
“Dunfermline estimate they made £250,000 from playing Celtic on Sunday and that shows how important this competition is to clubs in the SFL. I can’t lie, if we were to receive that sort of windfall it would be very handy indeed.”
The nine-goal rout of Stirling was one of County’s best displays under Adams.
It would be easy for the manager to take the plaudits, but he insists all the praise should go to his players for their excellent display.
He said: “We played very well, created a lot of opportunities and it was a fantastic performance. It is testimony to the players who work very hard. They were devastating.
“It would have been nice to give a performance like that in the league, but to play as we did and score nine goals against a team trying to win promotion from the Second Division speaks volumes.
“It was a special achievement for us as we are through to the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup for the first time.”