Kilmarnock v East Fife: Robertson focused on putting a third SPL side to the test

The Fifers were the most successful side in the first decade of the competition, winning it three times during a golden period in the club’s history. Thoughts of a fourth win may look a little fanciful, but manager John Robertson says his priority is to ensure his men make hosts Kilmarnock work hard for everything at Rugby Park tonight.

Robertson said: “We may well have lost the element of surprise now after our wins over Dunfermline and Aberdeen, but hopefully those successes as well as three league wins in a row will have given Kilmarnock manager Kenny Shiels plenty to think about.

“I have had them watched a couple of times and have plans in place to stop them hurting us, but we have to play at our very best to progress to a semi-final place. We will look to repeat what we have done earlier and you just never know.”

The Second Division side look set to be without defensive midfielder David Muir for their trip to Ayrshire after he picked up a knock in Saturday’s 1-0 win over Stirling Albion, while striker Scott Dalziel is definitely out with a pelvic injury.

Aberdeen paid the price for not taking East Fife seriously enough in the last round. Having beaten Robertson’s side 6-0 in the Scottish Cup earlier in the year, the Pittodrie side most likely did not expect much trouble from the part-timers second time around. Kilmarnock are unlikely to make the same mistake tonight, having seen what the visitors are capable of on their day.

Rugby Park manager Kenny Shiels has done his homework on their opponents and insists he will be taking no chances when it comes to his team selection.

He said: “I was at the Dunfermline game. I just went along to watch the game and, lo and behold, we end up meeting them in the cup so I’m glad I did now.

“East Fife is a tricky one. We will be looking to start our best team.

“Of course it acts as a warning what they have done and that’s why we will go strong. We have to make sure that we don’t miss the opportunity to reach the last four.”

However, Shiels is adamant he is not looking ahead to the possibility of a cup final just yet. He said: “I’m just thinking about East Fife and putting out a strong team to see if we can beat them. We know they will be coming in a positive frame of mind.

“They are on a winning run at the minute but we are a couple of leagues above them and we’ve got a home draw and we should be thankful of that and we will be working hard.”

Kilmarnock will still be without goalkeeper Cammy Bell, who has missed the last couple of games with an elbow injury and Anssi Jaakkola – impressive against Motherwell at the weekend – looks set to deputise again tonight.

Shiels has no fresh injury worries after his side came through Saturday’s draw at Fir Park unscathed.