The quarter-final guide

Aberdeen v Falkirk

Tuesday, 7.45pm

• How Aberdeen got here The Dons being the Dons, they took their usual coronary-inducing route. They played Raith Rovers in the last round and almost bottled it yet again when faced with lower league opposition. Two second-half goals from Scott Vernon gave a freaked-out Mark McGhee a 3-2 win.

• And Falkirk The story of the third round as "mighty" Hearts went to Falkirk and got done. Oh, the drama of it all. Falkirk were 2-0 ahead, then 3-2 behind. Ryan Flynn and Mark Stewart scored in the last ten minutes to clinch a victory that made Jim Jeferries a bad man to be around for a day or two.

• Must-win game More for McGhee than Steven Pressley. If they get turned over by First Division opposition (again) then the man is going to be under serious pressure to justify his existence. He's already showing signs of frailty by reacting to negativity in the media. What does he expect? Putting aside yesterday's thumping of hapless Hibs, the Dons have been dire.

• In victory Steven Pressley says "All credit to the boys, I couldn't have done it without them."

• And in defeat "This is just a blip on the road to my - sorry, our - domination of Scottish football."

• In victory Mark McGhee says "Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough."

• And in defeat "We have 37 players injured at the present time."

Prediction: Aberdeen 1 Falkirk 0

Motherwell v Dundee United

Tuesday, 7.45pm

• How Motherwell got here With the minimum of fuss. A double from Jonathan Page at Brechin and through they went.

• And Dundee United With all kinds of fuss. A repeat of the Scottish Cup final with Ross County, but an altogether different contest. Level at 1-1 after 90 minutes, United progressed courtesy of an own goal from Scott Boyd.

• Cup specialists United have lost only one of their last eight ties in all cup competitions, that one coming in Europe in August when they went down 1-0 at home to AEK Athens. It's a formidable record by anybody's standards.

• In victory, Craig Brown says "And for my next trick I'm going on to Strictly Come Dancing as a late replacement for Paul Daniels. I've still got the touch, you know."

• And in defeat "We came up against a marvellous, superb, inspirational side tonight, coached by a wonderful, stupendous manager."

• In victory, Peter Houston says "We'd have won by more had the referee not conspired to ignore all of our 19 penalty claims, but that's what you expect when - who's the whistler again? - takes charge of our games."

• And in defeat "I don't want to go down the road of criticising referees. They have a difficult job to do. But this fella was a muppet."

Prediction: Motherwell 1 Dundee United 2

St Johnstone v Celtic

Wednesday, 7.45pm

• How St Johnstone got here By way of an impressive second-half display against Queen of the South whose resistance cracked under the weight of three unanswered goals from the Saints.

• And Celtic The Inverness Caledonian Thistle players were being scraped up off the Parkhead turf for hours after a 6-0 annihilation. Georgios Samaras grabbed a hat-trick. Anthony Stokes got a double.

• Omens If you're a Saint, look away now. Celtic have been troubled by many teams in recent times, but St Johnstone are not one of them. The last three games between the teams: 3-0, 4-1 and 5-2 to the Hoops. The departed, but hardly lamented, striker Marc-Antoine Fortune managed to score four against them in two games last season.

• In victory Derek McInnes says "Am I imagining it or did we just beat Celtic?"

• And in defeat "The SPL is our bread and butter."

• In victory Neil Lennon says "The lads were a joy to watch. Gary Hooper is the English David Villa."

• And in defeat "We need at least 14 new players at this club."

Prediction: St Johnstone 1 Celtic 3

Kilmarnock v Rangers

7.45pm, Wednesday

• How KilMARNOCK got here Came from behind against manager Mixu Paatelainen's former employers Hibs and ran out highly convincing 3-1 winners at Rugby Park.

• And Rangers Celtic hit six in their tie, but Rangers went one better in their destruction of Dunfermline Athletic. They won 7-2 at Ibrox with a hat-trick from Kyle Lafferty of all people. Nikica Jelavic scored twice.

• Giant-kill possibility Well, it's stretching it, but Rangers have been playing a lot of high-pressure football of late and may not be as focused as they ought to be. Sound convincing? No, didn't think so. Despite some admirable performances Kilmarnock don't exactly have the look of a booby trap about them just now. And the Ayrshire outfit haven't beaten Rangers since May 2007. The hero that day? None other than Steven Naismith.

• In victory Mixu Paatelainen says "Nobody move. I'm going to talk for days about how great this victory really was."

• And in defeat "There was no way back after the sixth goal."

• In victory Walter Smith says "The most pleasing aspect was..." It's been about three years since he didn't use that phrase is a press conference.

• And in defeat "The most disappointing aspect was..." In fairness, he hasn't had cause to use that stock answer for a while now.

Prediction: Kilmarnock 0 Rangers 2