Jack Fitzwater looked around the changing room at half-time in Livingston’s last-16 tie with Ayr United and knew the club had turned it around.
Gary Holt had resigned just two days earlier following a disappointing start to the season.
That was quickly forgotten, though, as they raced out to a four-goal lead at the break against The Honest Men, with the centre-back netting twice — his first goals in Scottish football.
Now, the 23-year-old Brummie wants to go one step further and ensure his first season north of the border features a League Cup final appearance.
He knows it will be no easy task on Sunday against St Mirren. But equally, he believes they will pick up the win if they’re able to play to their full potential.
He said: “You can tell that the momentum has completely shifted since we lost against St Mirren in the league. We’ve been on a great run of form since then and hopefully we can keep that up with a win on Sunday.
“We can’t wait and we’ll be raring to go at Hampden.
“I know the history of the club and about the 2004 win and we’ve got a huge chance to progress to the final and then go on to win it.
“We know if we play to our best, then I’ve no doubt that we can win.”
He added: “The Ayr game was the first game that Davie got the management job and I got back in the team after injury.
“I scored a couple of goals and felt that I showed what I could do. It really helped.
“I think that game was the turning point because we were 4-0 up at half-time and you could see all the boys with smiles on their faces and that was the kind of momentum shift for everyone that we really needed.
“That was the standards we set ourselves after that game and we haven’t come off it since and we’ve been all the better for it.
“Confidence is a huge thing in football and we have it 100 per cent now.
“Nobody could say we weren’t working hard or trying during the blip at the start of the season. We were doing all we could and it just wasn’t coming off for us.
“Once we got that Ayr win under our belts, we went into the next game with confidence.
“When you have that and you’re on a run, you can’t wait to play the next game and you know you’ve got a chance to win.”
