The irony is not lost on East Fife manager Gary Naysmith.
The absence of three Rangers players due to international call-ups forced the postponement of their Petrofac Training Cup tie last month, so it is nothing short of a cruel twist of fate that the Bayview boss is preparing for the rescheduled clash with a pool of just 13 or 14 outfield players.
Naysmith himself is injured alongside Scott Smith, Alan Cook and Kevin Smith, while the fact loanees Liam Smith and Jonathan Page are ineligible having already played in the competition has not helped matters.
So while he has not given up hope of springing a major cup upset this evening, Naysmith was refreshingly honest when he admitted that his main aim is to see his squad come through the assignment unscathed.
“We can give Rangers a few problems and we don’t want it to be one-way traffic,” he noted.
“And we will put out a team to try and cause them a few problems with what we’ve got available but, really, we want no more injuries.
“When the game was due to be played we probably had a full squad but if we can get 14 players stripped we’ll be doing well.
“It is what it is. There’s no point crying over it.
“That’s what happens when you run a smallish squad, although I don’t know how much bigger a squad we could have had with the finances that were available.
“I’m speaking about it, but I’m not using it as an excuse because it’s a fantastic experience for a lot of the younger lads that haven’t played against Rangers which should help them in their East Fife career.
“As I said, we’re not going to use excuses, even if I had my full strength squad it’s going to be an extremely tough game for us albeit we may have had a better chance.
“As long as we give it 100%, come in and say I couldn’t have given any more out there, then what will be will be.
“But to be honest with you, if you said to me you’ll put in a good performance against Rangers or you’ll get three points against Queen’s Park, I’d bite your hand off at the three points.
“Yes it would be great for the club to get a good result against Rangers, get a bit of publicity and cause one of the biggest shocks that you would probably see in Scottish football, but for me I honestly and I mean it would rather take three points against Queen’s Park on Saturday.”
Such is the extent of their injury woes, Naysmith revealed that he has had to recall young forward Daryl Falconer from junior side Dundonald Bluebell to help make up the numbers.
Despite the depleted squad though, Naysmith has challenged the players who do step up to use the experience wisely.
“We’ll have a young team out against them and it will be a fantastic experience for them to play against one of the strongest squads in the Championship,” he continued.
“I’m sure Rangers would probably be able to hold their own in the Premiership with that squad.
“But it’s a good chance for the players to go and play and there’s no pressure on us.
“We just want to go out and put on a good show, to show that we’re improving as a team from last season.
“The reality is that we’ll need to play unbelievably well and hope that they have an off night and that we catch them on one of those results that every now and then do happen.”
Alloa await the winners of tonight’s tie in the semi-finals and, coming off the back of a 6-1 demolition job of Raith Rovers, Naysmith expects Rangers will not treat the Fifers lightly.
“Ally (McCoist) was disappointed last year, and I think he said it was his biggest regret so far as manager, that they didn’t beat Raith Rovers in the Ramsdens Cup final,” he concluded.
“Yes, they may make a couple of changes but does it weaken the team?
“Jon Daly coming in for one of their strikers? No.
“Bilel Moshni coming in for perhaps one of their centre defenders? No.
“David Templeton coming in for Aird or MacLeod? No.
“So it’s going to be a strong team and anybody he puts on the pitch would get into my team.
“I fully expect him to come right at us from the first whistle and he’ll want to make his intentions clear. He wants to get silverware, he wants to get promoted, he wants to win the league.
“Anything he enters as Rangers manager, he wants to win.”