ANDY Graham’s full focus has been on Alloa Athletic’s mouthwatering Premier Sports Cup second round match against Rangers at Ibrox tomorrow afternoon since the full-time whistle blew in their KDM Evolution Trophy meeting with Stranraer on Tuesday night.
Graham - who played, at the grand old age of 41 no less, at centre-half in that narrow 2-1 loss at Stair Park– had overseen six consecutive victories before the reverse which the part-time William Hill League 1 outfit suffered in midweek down in Wigtownshire.
The player-manager is desperate for his third tier team to rediscover that sort of form in Govan and give their hosts, who have come under pressure as a result of their disappointing Premiership draws against Motherwell away and Dundee at home, a difficult game in front of their increasingly disgruntled supporters.
Will the cup tie with the Wasps have a sting in the tail for Glasgow giants – just like it did when the two teams met in the Challenge Cup semi-final at Recreation Park way back in 2014 and the minnows came from 2-0 down to win 3-2 – this weekend?
Read more:
-
The 6ft 5in Hearts kid behind a six game winning run urged to rise to Rangers test
-
You can't defend against him: The winger Rangers must halt to reach Champions League
-
Champions League riches are within touch for Rangers - so why do concerns remain?
The veteran defender knows from personal experience that anything is possible. “We should be looking good,” he said. “The boys have had a great start to the season. It's all about continuing that positive momentum and putting on a positive display on Saturday.
“It's quite difficult to prepare for this game because they've got a very, very big squad. We’re playing them in between two Champions League qualifiers so I am a wee bit unsure what team their manager Russell Martin will play.
“We've just got to look at it from our own perspective. We’ve got to go there with belief, with positivity, and try to put on a performance. People will say, ‘Just go and enjoy it’. But you’ll only enjoy it if you do yourself justice as a player, perform well and put on a display that really shows what you’re all about.”
Graham added, “I played for Dumbarton when Rangers were coming up through the leagues and actually scored at Ibrox once. But that was a different time for Rangers and a different Rangers team. They're back challenging to get into Champions League. It's a completely different dynamic there.
“They've got such a strong squad. I know there's been a lot of criticism flying about, but they're still a really strong team with some really, really talented players. It's such early days for them, isn't it? If they click, then they can go and do what they did to Viktoria Plzen last week and thump them 3-0 and could have been a lot more.
“But that goal for Dumbarton and Ibrox is the sort of thing that your team can do. You can go and cause a wee upset. There's always a possibility when smaller clubs go to take on bigger clubs. Of course there is. That's why we all love football, isn't it? At the end of the day, it boils down to 11 players against 11 players. You just never know in football, do you?”
Alloa this week announced they had signed a cooperation agreement with their top flight counterparts and would take youngsters on loan from them in the coming months and fully embrace the innovative SFA scheme which was voted through by SPFL clubs earlier this year.
“We had conversations with quite a few clubs,” he said. “We've been lucky enough to get some really positive loan deals in my time so far as manager.
“We had Bobby Wales, who's now down at Swansea, from Kilmarnock. We had Ethan Sutherland, who got a really big move down to Wolves, from St Mirren. We had Josh Gentles from Rangers and Charlie Dewar from Dundee United last season. As I say, we've had some really positive ones.
Read more:
-
Rangers and EPL side both see £1m offer for goalkeeper 'ignored'
-
Football Italia icon reveals why Scotland midfielder Lennon Miller has chosen Udinese
-
Wrexham smash transfer record with £10m deal for new striker
“That helped us when we were looking at potential cooperation agreements. It's really difficult because you're wanting to pick the one that's going to help you as a club but also help the players as well.
“But we were lucky. Rangers had actually done quite a bit of digging into us as a team. They had a real in-depth knowledge about our squad and our players and where they thought their academy prospects would fit into that.
“I think Josh's positive loan deal was a big factor. He had a great time with us and you'd like to think he's fed that back to the coaching staff at Rangers and that's maybe opened up the opportunity. We've been in discussions for a good while. The timing was just ironic with us meeting in the cup.”
“I'm all for it. If we stay with the status quo then people are going to moan and say, ‘Nothing's working!’ So let's try something. It'll take a wee while and there will be teething problems like anything that is new. But let's hope it's a positive thing for us and also a positive thing more importantly for the players that come out. If it doesn't work then we can try something else.
“But there are loads of things that you can do through the co-operation agreement. It's great that it can happen outside the window. I've found that sometimes clubs want to hold on to kids because they might need them. Now they can let him go and call him back. That will really help them. Meanwhile, clubs like us are getting talented young Scottish players and at no cost.”
