Cup Round Up
Last updated : 25 February 2007 By Firparkcorner
Hibs beat Queen of the South but the plucky underdogs fought hard and the visitors only scraped home by a narrow 2-1 margin. While we still want to avoid the side from Easter Road, the fact that the team at the bottom of the First Division can give them a game should give us a little hope should we meet them. Hibs have been comfortable against us in recent games but we were a bit better the last time and they do have a tendency to bottle big games.
Dunfermline continued their march towards Hampden with an unspectacular win over Partick Thistle. While we probably would have preferred the lower league side to go through in this one, Dunfermline must surely hold no fears for us. They are bottom of the league for a reason and we have won two out of two against them so far. However they have picked up recently and after their astonishing wins over Rangers and Hearts in earlier rounds, they certainly have the 'name on the cup' factor behind them. But should we come out against them we will be going into a big game as clear favourites and that would be unusual for us. It would have one big advantage as Celtic meeting Hibs would solve at least one potential problem for us.
And finally, Celtic stole a win from under the noses of Inverness. Had the Highlanders held on we would have been delighted but the nerves would have been jangling at the opportunity in front of us. Celtic will be out of the Champions League before the semi finals are played and with the league won there is no reason for them not to be focussed on the task at hand. Their progression does mean that a losing final might still get us into Europe and we did defeat them in the semi final the last time we won the cup.
But all of this is based on the 'if' premise. Motherwell has a very tough challenge ahead just to get our name in the hat with Dunfermline, Hibs and Celtic. We have simply not turned up for cup ties in the recent past and previous quarter finals against St Johnstone and the then First Division ICT have been absolute disasters. We'll take whoever we get in the semi final, the important thing is that we keep alive the chance that this could be the year.
