Brora Rangers manager Steven Mackay says Cattachs have to take inspiration from Hearts triumph to believe they can cause Scottish Cup upset of the season at Livingston
Brora Rangers manager Steven Mackay says his players have to believe that they are capable of causing the shock of this season’s Scottish Cup this weekend.
The Cattachs go on the road to Livingston, who are flying high in the Championship as they try to earn an immediate return to the top flight.
There is a long list of cup upsets over the years, including Brora’s own victory over Hearts at Dudgeon Park in 2021 – the same year the Jambos lifted the Championship title.
A number of Brora’s squad were involved that day too, and Mackay says they have to believe history can repeat itself to stand a chance of getting a result in West Lothian.
“I think you have to take inspiration from those experiences and things that have happened in the past,” Mackay said.
“They demonstrate to the players that these types of results are possible. We had the Hearts game, Darvel had Aberdeen in recent years too, so it can be done.
“In every season in the Scottish Cup there seems to be one result that captures everyone’s imagination, so why can’t it be us on Saturday?
“It will be a great test for us. We’re on a good run ourselves, we’re playing well and scoring lots of goals, and it’s always nice as a player and a manager to try and compete against a full time team.
“We know it’s going to be really tough, and we know that we’ll probably have to ride our luck, but it can be done.
“This club has a phenomenal record in the Scottish Cup. We beat Hearts, and we drew against a very good Championship team at the time in Morton a few years ago.
“We drew 1-1 with them, so it is possible. The players need to believe in it though, so we’ll draw on all of those past experiences.
“Although a lot of them weren’t involved in those, a lot were. We’ve got Tom Kelly, Colin Williamson, Mark Nicolson, Jordan Macrae, Millar Gamble – there are a few boys who were a part of that Hearts squad.
“We’ll certainly lean on that as much as possible to make sure the belief is there, because if we don’t go in with belief then we’ll be up against it from the start.”
Although they will be able to pass on their experience, Macrae and Nicolson will miss the trip south as they are out injured, while Connor Bunce is unavailable as he is cup-tied after appearing in the previous round with Clachnacuddin.
Brora will be able to call on the experience of a few players who have plied their trade at the Championship level themselves, though, and Mackay feels that will be crucial to their chances of getting a positive result.
“We’ve got Cammy Mackay, Shane Sutherland and Tony Dingwall who have played at that level – Tony has even played in the Premiership,” he explained.
“Then we’ve got Andrew Macleod and George Robesten who are trying to play at that level at the opposite end of their careers.
“It will be a great test for both sets of players – Tony and Shane have already demonstrated that they have the ability to play at that level, and I’m sure they will be looking forward to going up against that standard of player.
“We will need their experience of playing at a higher level to get us through the game, because it’s going to be a challenge in the sense that we’re not going to have a lot of the ball.
“Livingston will have the lion’s share of possession, so we need to make sure we’re not chasing lost causes and conserve our energy for the right times.
“Their experience will be important, but also the youthful exuberance we have from the likes of Andrew and George will be vital too.”
Much may be made of the Cattachs having to play on Livingston’s artificial pitch, but Mackay insists it will not be an issue as Brora train on such a surface during the week.
In fact, he believes it could actually help Brora play to their best – albeit he anticipates having to set up very differently compared to a Highland League fixture.
“We played Banks O’Dee a couple of weeks ago on a similar surface, and I actually think it suits us,” he added.
“The ball moves a bit quicker, really smoothly, which suits our game. We have a lot of very technical players who can take the ball in tight areas, and an artificial pitch lends itself to that style, so hopefully we will adapt well to it.
“When we get the ball back, it’s really important that we keep it because the last thing we want to be doing is spending long periods of time not having the ball, then giving it straight back to them when we do get it.
“We’re not naive enough to think we can go and play our normal game.
“For the most part of this season, in a lot of games we’ve had lots of possession and been on the front foot. Saturday will be the opposite.
“We expect Livingston to keep a lot of the ball, so we need to make sure that we’ve got defensive discipline and commit to the shape we set up with to try and restrict their space and time on the ball.
“That will be difficult and energy-sapping, but equally when we do win the ball back we still want to pose a threat.
“We don’t want to camp in our own half for the whole game. We want to try and hit Livingston on the break when we can, or try and be a threat from set plays.
“We have been really good at scoring from set plays this season, so if we get a corner or a free kick we intend to take advantage of it.”
