Gary Bowyer has challenged his young Dundee side to prove they can cut it against the very best as the Dark Blues face a formidable trip to Ibrox.
A place in the last four of the Premier Sports Cup is at stake but standing in the way are last season’s Europa League finalists Rangers.
Despite some recent troubles for Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side, the Dark Blues are more than 20/1 in some bookmakers to come away from Ibrox with a first victory since 2001.
Bowyer, though, expects changes from his opposite number as the Gers face their sixth of nine games in the month of October.
“I can’t wait,” he said.
“For me personally it is going to be really exciting taking the team to one of the most iconic venues in football.
“I was fortunate as a manager at Blackburn when we went to play Manchester City and to Anfield.
“But we’re not going for a day out.
“We want to give our very, very best. We have to be at it, we know that. We’ll need to be organised, we need a bit of luck and to be very good when our opportunities arise.
“We have to give everything we have in our bodies to try to cause an upset and at the same time hope some of the Rangers players have an off-day.
“We’re competitors. I’m going to learn. I’m going to see how many of our lads think that by how they perform.
“How many of them stand up and say we’ll have a right good go at this. If the stars get aligned, you never know.
Bravery
“These games are what you play the game for.
“I will learn a hell of a lot about our group.
“I’ll learn who has real bravery to stand up to a formidable team.
“I appreciate they have lots of injuries and their schedule is incredible, I don’t know how you manage that schedule.
“I’m sure they’ll see it as an opportunity to blood some youngsters but we are talking about some of the best youngsters in Scotland.
“From our point of view, it doesn’t get any easier no matter who puts the shirt on.
“But we want to go and do everything we possibly can to try to cause an upset.”
‘Sterling, Sturridge, Coutinho…’
That trip to Anfield as Blackburn boss saw the Championship underdogs come away from Liverpool with a hard-fought 0-0 draw in a 2015 FA Cup quarter-final.
The Merseyside outfit were in the midst of a Premier League title charge that season and Bowyer says the lessons that team learned in 2015 propelled many players onto the next stage of their career.
And he’s hoping some of current charges follow that same path by picking up a massive result on Wednesday.
“It was a marvellous experience, we took 6,500 fans,” Bowyer added.
“We had a couple of good opportunities – I can still see Simon Mignolet making an unbelievable save from Alex Baptiste from a corner.
“We had everybody having a right good go against them and we rode our luck.
“I think they had Sterling, Sturridge, Coutinho so that wasn’t a bad front three.
“Coming up against the quality and calibre of the squad at Liverpool was a challenge for our boys.
“A number of players from that Blackburn team went on and played in the Premier League and had great careers in the Premier League.
“Those experiences they went through were invaluable.
Who knows?
“That season in the cup we beat Stoke and Swansea and they were both in the Premier League on the way to the quarter-finals.
“We used to say: ‘These are real good benchmarks to see how far you can go in the game and your careers’.
“If some of our lads have good displays on Wednesday night and back it up in the league then who knows where their careers can go.
“I am really looking forward to seeing how many of them step forward.”
For the club as a whole, though, the trip to Ibrox is a reminder of the level they wish to return to.
“That is my team talk for Wednesday. How many want to be playing in that arena week in, week out?”
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