Jim Chapman is gearing his side up to pull off a massive cup shock — asking: “Why not us?”
Kilmarnock Women will host giants Glasgow City in the Scottish Cup quarter-final this Sunday and, although he’s under no illusions of the task at hand, coach Chapman is staying positive.
City have scored a whopping 118 goals this season, including an 11-0 win over Glasgow Women at the weekend.
However, Chapman insists cup shocks happen and is adamant that it’s 11 v 11 on the day.
He told the Kilmarnock Standard: “I’ve been part of big shocks, I’ve managed cup upsets, it’s always good.
“But what I always say to players is that it’s 11 v 11 and it breaks down to one v one battles.
“We will challenge the players to win as many one v one battles as they can and we take it from there.
“At the end of the day it’s the top team in the country against the lowest-ranked in the competition so I can’t pull the wool over anyone’s eyes. But we just need to embrace it. There’s always shocks in cup ties, so why not us?”
He added: “I have always prepared my teams like that, it comes down to one game, so let’s just see how we go.”
Chapman says playing the best of the best will be a great learning curve for his players, especially the academy stars.
The clash with Glasgow City will be tough, but Chapman believes his side can take education from it no matter the result.
He said: “We are looking forward to it, it’s going to be a great occasion.
“The achievement of just getting to this stage is good, it shows we are making great progress.
“Being the lowest ranked team left you hope the draw is kind to you, but it’s turned out to be the top-ranked team in the country we are facing, it will be a massive challenge but it’s one we should embrace.
“That’s the level we want to take the club to, we know what it takes to get there and this is just another step forward.
“Glasgow City have been the top team in the country for many years, so this is difficult, but we will go out there and do our best.”
He continued: “From my own experience even in the men’s game, you always want to pitch yourself against the best.
“Whether you’re a coach, staff or a player, you want that challenge of taking on the top teams.
“We have got a few academy kids in the first team and we can point to the likes of Glasgow City and say ‘this is the level you need to aspire to’.
“To get the opportunity to play against these teams is fantastic for all the players, you can see in the flesh what these players do to be top internationals.
“I will be using this experience to educate the academy players who have ambitions to be at the top.
“As long as they learn from it that’s the main thing, it would be lovely to sit here and say we’re expecting a positive result but we’re under no illusion of the task at hand.
“We will be giving it our best shot, but the main thing is what we take away from a game like this.”
Killie took on SWPL1 opposition Hibs in the Sky Sports Cup earlier this season, and despite losing 8-0, Chapman says lessons were learnt.
He said: “We took lessons from that, even personally I learnt a lot.
“I don’t think it went according to plan against Hibs, but when you lose a goal early it’s the old cliche that all plans go out the window.
“I know the defeat doesn’t look nice on paper, but six of their goals came from set-pieces and that’s an area we’ve worked on and I’d say we’re a lot better on that front now.”
Tickets (£5/£2) for the clash are available on Kilmarnock’s website or from the ticket office by calling 01563 545311.
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