Posted January 9, 2016

Sunday see's us take a break from league action as we head to Ibrox Stadium to face Championship leaders Rangers in the fourth round of the William Hill Scottish Cup with a 1 p.m. kick off with the match being covered live by Sky Sports.

 

It will be a tough game for Colin Nish and his team, who will be backed by over 300 fans, as we face an inform Gers side who have scored ten goals in their last two matches but we should perhaps take heart from Annan's 4-1 cup win over Premiership Hamilton on Saturday afternoon.

 

This will be the eighth time that we have met the Gers in the Scottish Cup with the Govan side winning six of the previous encounters with the other match ending in a draw.

 

Our two visits to Ibrox in last season's Championship saw us lose twice, in December 2014 we went down 1-0 with Dean Shiels getting the only goal of a wet afternoon 13 minutes into the second half.

 

The return game in April once again saw a goal less first half with the Gers taking the lead four minutes into the second half before Kudus Oyenuga levelled the score with 14 minutes to go.

 

However former Central Parker Darren McGregor restored the home sides lead in 84 minutes with Haris Vuckic then scoring a brace in the last two minutes to give Rangers a 4-1 win.

 

Our games at Central Park saw Rangers win 3-0 in November 2014 with Nicky Law giving them an early lead and an own goal from Kyle Miller doubled their advantage early in the second half with David Templeton grabbing a third goal late on.

 

The return game then saw a goal less draw at Central Park the day after Dave King's consortium took control at Ibrox.

 

Following their play - off final loss to Motherwell in May Stuart McCall was replaced as manager by former Brentford boss Mark Warburton and a blistering start to the season saw him win his first 11 league and cup games in charge.

 

That run was ended by Premiership St Johnstone who ran out 3-1 winners in the League Cup which has been Rangers only home defeat this season. In the league they have won nine of their ten home games with only Morton managing to take a point out of Govan following a 2-2 draw last month.

 

Following a surprise 2-1 defeat at Falkirk just before Christmas the Gers have won their last two games - beating Hibernian 4-2 at Ibrox and Dumbarton 6-0 at the Rock last Saturday.

 

Our five game unbeaten run of course came to an end last Saturday when we went down to a narrow 2-1 defeat at neighbours Dunfermline.

 

New signing Grant Adam, who played in Morton's 2-2 draw at Ibrox last month, won't be eligible to take part against his old side after playing for Morton in their 2-0 win at Albion Rovers in the last round. However our other new keeper Alin Roman will be eligible for the squad.

 

Rangers added two new players to their squad this week winger Harry Forrester from Doncaster and keeper Maciej Gostomski from Lech Poznan and both will be eligible for selection along with Andy Halliday who won an appeal to have a red card against Hibernian reduced to a yellow.

 

Prior to the match the Cowden directors have been invited to take part in Rangers traditional New Year Loving Cup ceremony which will take place in the Blue Room.

 

PREVIOUS SCOTTISH CUP MEETINGS

 

Season 1927-28 Rangers 4-2 Cowden

 

Season 1929-30 Rangers 2-2 Cowden

 

Season 1929-30 Cowden 0-3 Rangers

 

Season 1934-35 Rangers 3-1 Cowden

 

Season 1949-50 Rangers 8-0 Cowden

 

Season 1957-58 Cowden 1-3 Rangers

 

Season 1990-91 Rangers 5-0 Cowden

 

The draw for the fifth round will take place at Hampden Park on Monday evening at 6.15 p.m. and will be shown live on Sky Sports News with former Rangers legend Brian Laudrup and William Hill World Darts Champion Gary Anderson helping pull the teams out.

 

Teams in the draw following Saturday afternoon's games are Annan, Dundee United, Dumbarton, Hearts, Hibernian, Morton, Motherwell and Kilmarnock, while Partick Thistle qualified on Friday night.

 

There were three ties which ended in draws Linlithgow v Forfar, Dunfermline v Ross County and Stirling Albion v Inverness while Dundee v Falkirk and East Kilbride v Lothian Thistle HV were both postponed due to the weather. Stranraer meet Celtic on Sunday afternoon.

 

Previewer: Andrew Mullen.