Ross County manager Jim McIntyre wants his players to be inspired by last season’s Hampden heroics tomorrow when they make their maiden trip to Ibrox for the Premiership match against Rangers.
County make the trip to Govan for the first time in their 87-year history this weekend, with the Light Blues winning all three previous cup encounters at Victoria Park.
Despite Rangers going into the game on the back of a 5-1 defeat by Old Firm rivals Celtic last weekend, Mark Warburton’s players are likely to be backed by a big crowd for their first league encounter with the Highlanders.
Although County’s supporters will be vastly outnumbered McIntyre has called for his side to revel in the occasion, though, and feels his side can take encouragement from previous trips to Glasgow, including January’s 3-1 win against Celtic in the semi-final of the League Cup which set County up for their final victory against Hibernian in March.
McIntyre said: “It’s a first for this club. When we get the chance to go to places like Ibrox and Parkhead and play in front of 50,000 people, that’s the environment we want to play football in.
“We’ve got to target every game as one we can win and that doesn’t matter whether we’re going to Celtic, Rangers, Hearts or Aberdeen. They are all difficult venues but we’ve got to believe we can win the game. We certainly believe we can.
“We’ve done well against Celtic on a number of occasions, none more so than in the League Cup semi-final, so the boys certainly won’t fear going to Ibrox. They will embrace it and look forward to it.”
McIntyre says strong performances all over the park will be required if County are to return north with anything to show for their efforts.
He added: “To win any game at this level we have to be at our best, but especially against the Old Firm. We have to bring a high level of performance, disciplined but also a threatening one.
“We’ve got to do a lot of things well. We need to defend well and our goalkeeper is going to have to make saves, because they’ve got international players. But we’ve got good players, too.”
