BY DARREN JOHNSTONE – Capital City Press
Liam Buchanan insists Livingston can emulate Alloa’s Petrofac Training Cup exploits by eliminating Rangers from the competition.
Cup holders the Lions travel to Ibrox this evening for a rearranged quarter-final clash that pits the Championship leaders against the basement side.
But striker Buchanan admits he will not be overawed by the task of trying to upset a Rangers team that have won their first ten matches in the league after he was part of the Wasps side that produced a stunning comeback in the Challenge Cup last season.
Buchanan said: “At Alloa we had Rangers in the semi-final and we were two-nil down with 18 minutes to go.
“We managed to turn that around and win 3-2 and we can look to that for belief that it can be done.
“Even when we were two-nil down, I thought if we got one we could maybe go on and get another.
“When we got the first one I thought we could go and get at them because they didn’t seem like they were settled and were all over the place.
“The boys just had great belief, similar to what is in this changing room this season. We’re all confident that we’re good players and can win games.
“There are guys in the changing room that have gone to Ibrox and had good results, although it’s a different Rangers side now.”
Buchanan, who was in the Alloa team that lost last season’s final to Livingston, added: “You can’t go there with a fear of losing, just because it’s Rangers you can’t accept you’re going to get beat. We have to give it our all.
“We know it’s a massive ask for us to go there and win but teams have been underdogs before and managed to pull it off.”
The West Lothian outfit, who were defeated 3-0 in the league at Ibrox last month, have lost their last two Championship matches by the odd goal and are a point adrift of Alloa at the basement.
But Buchanan insists they are not short of belief in the changing room.
He added: “It’s been a funny few games, since we went to Ibrox in the league we’ve been playing really well but results have not shown that.
“The boys are still working hard in training and giving everything in the games and we’re confident we’re one result from turning it around.”
Livingston manager Mark Burchill, meanwhile, insists Ibrox is a venue that allows his players to express themselves.
He said: “Mark Warburton was pretty complimentary about our performance at Ibrox last time, even though we lost 3-0.
“I felt it was a closer game than that as they scored a couple of wonder-strikes.
“Ibrox is a really difficult place to go but it actually suits us that you get time to play and pass the ball.
“My players are good at that. Normally in the Championship it’s a bit more kick and rush.
“We’ve been working on how we want to play and hopefully we’ll cause them a few problems themselves.”
