Match Preview: Rangers (Scottish Cup R5)

Rangers  V  Raith Rovers  Sunday 8th February 2015 Ibrox, Glasgow Kick off: 3.00pm

Please note this match is all ticket so fans must purchase them from Stark’s Park before 1pm on Friday 6th February. 

Match Preview:

Raith Rovers will hope to take impressive fine league form into the Scottish Cup this Sunday, as they travel to Ibrox, to take on Rangers.

Grant Murray’s men are in fine fettle, after a backs-to-the-wall display at Easter Road last weekend, ended up producing a precious point, after a late goal from Christian Nadé levelled the match up, after Martin Boyle had nudged the Leith side in-front early in the second period.

The draw means Raith have now gone five games unbeaten in the Championship, and while their two previous encounters with Rangers this term have produced heavy defeats, they head to Govan with their tails up.

Rangers go into the match on the back of another cup tie, but last Sunday’s League Cup semi-final was a disappointment for Kenny McDowall’s side, as they went down 2-0 to Celtic.

On the back of that defeat however, Rangers supplemented their side with five new arrivals, all of whom have come from Newcastle United on-loan. Shane Ferguson is a left-sided player who can play either in midfield or at full-back, and the versatile 23-year-old has 18 caps for Northern Ireland. Gael Bigirimana is a central midfielder, who has 13 appearances and 1 goal for Newcastle United, while attacking midfielder Haris Vuckic, has one cap for Slovenia.

Remie Streete is a central-defender who has yet to make an appearance for his parent club, while Kevin Mbabu, who has also yet to start for Newcastle United, can play in the middle of the back-four or on the right.

This will be the two clubs tenth meeting in the Scottish Cup, and Rovers will be hoping it’s tenth time lucky, as they’ve yet to record a victory over the Glasgow club in the competition. It’ll be their first Scottish Cup encounter since 1989, when Rangers won a third round replay, after a 1-1 draw at Stark’s Park. It was their second successive meeting at that stage, after Frank Connor’s men had also taken Graeme Souness’ side to a replay in the previous year’s competition, after a 0-0 draw in Kirkcaldy.

Despite never tasting victory over Sunday’s opponents in the tournament, Rovers can take some solace in the fact they have come close on a number of occasions, with four draws from the nine previous Scottish Cup encounters.

Sunday’s match referee will be Bobby Madden.

Head-to-Head-Cup Record at Ibrox:

Rangers wins: 10 | Raith Rovers wins: 0 | Draws: 2

Rangers goals: 50 | Raith Rovers goals: 12

Current Form:

Rangers: L-W-L-W-W-L

Raith Rovers: L-W-W-W-D-D

Biggest Home Win: 16/12/1967 First Division Rangers 10 Raith Rovers 2

Biggest Away Win: 21/11/1959 First Division Rangers 2 Raith Rovers 3

Top Goalscorers in All Competitions:

Rangers: Nicky Law 10 | Kris Boyd 9 |  Lewis McLeod 8

Raith Rovers: Ryan Conroy 7 | Christian Nadé 6 | Mark Stewart 4

Match Odds:

Rangers: 2/7 | Raith Rovers: 8/1 | Draw: 19/4

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