Jim Goodwin insists he isn’t away with the fairies when he says that St Mirren can beat any team in Scotland on their day.
The Saints boss spent his career as a player as an underdog, fighting to topple bigger teams throughout his spell at the club as a player and during his spell in England with Stockport and Scunthorpe.
He is determined to get that winning against all odds mentality into his players, starting with tonight’s Scottish Cup quarter-final clash with Aberdeen.
Goodwin told Express Sport: “I’m usually in cloud cuckoo land anyway because I always believe we can beat anyone we play and I felt the same way as a player. I was an underdog at pretty much every club I was at and tonight will be no different.
“There’s no getting away from the fact that Aberdeen are a bigger club than we are and they have a better squad in terms of strength in depth.
"Everyone outside of here will expect Aberdeen to win and, respect to Derek McInnes and his players because they’ve gone far in the cup competitions in recent seasons.
"Genuinely, though, I believe we’re good enough to beat Aberdeen. In every cup competition, on any particular day any club is capable of beating another.
“I like them because they’re a good side but we’ve already beaten them in the league here this season and we were unlucky to lose 2-1 at Pittodrie.”
The gaffer is glad his side got through their clash with Motherwell on Tuesday night unscathed, giving him a full squad to pick from bar a few long-term injuries.
He added: “It’s really pleasing when the physio isn’t calling you in the morning to say that so-and-so has a knock.
“We have a clean bill of health apart from Ryan Flynn and Kyle Magennis. Gary McKenzie isn’t quite ready yet but everyone else is raring to go for this one.”
