Rangers weren’t the name he was looking for in the quarter-finals draw – but Jim Goodwin says it’s a game St Mirren will relish regardless.
The Buddies head into Saturday’s Premiership match with Aberdeen off the back of a 2-1 League Cup last 16 win over the Dons. It’s set up a last eight meeting with Rangers later this month.
With plenty of seeded teams falling at the last 16 stage, the League Cup has opened up. But Goodwin knows that Rangers will provide a stern test for his team in less than two week’s time.
“Obviously we’re delighted and I said after the Aberdeen game that I didn’t mind who we got but I’d have probably wanted to avoid one of the Old Firm before Celtic got put out and it makes the task all that more difficult,” said Goodwin.
“Rangers are the best team in the country just now, there’s no getting away from that, and it is going to be an extremely difficult game but I’ll always believe that on any day, any team can beat another.
“We would need Rangers to have a below-par performance and we would need ourselves to be playing really, really well. I’ve been in the game long enough to know that these things can happen, and this club has history for it.
“We’ve gone far in cup competitions in recent years and there’s no reason why we can’t beat Rangers.”
For now though, Goodwin’s sole focus remains on Aberdeen this Saturday as they look to climb the Premiership table, hit with the blow of 3-0 forfeits in the games they had in hand before this as their SPFL disciplinary hearing came to a close.
On the pitch, St Mirren are well over that, and Goodwin says he has some nice selection headaches with three players set to return: “We’ve got three players back this weekend.
“A lot was made last weekend about the players Aberdeen were missing but we were missing three very good players as well, Ethan Erhahon, Brandon Mason and Joe Shaughnessy.
“Those three lads will come back into the mix. I don’t have the need at the moment to make wholesale changes. When you go back a few weeks ago, we were going to Pittodrie with 15 fit players.
“It’s a really refreshing outlook now in terms of me as a manager having those great options that we have. We have a couple of players in every position now which is vital.”