Dunfermline Athletic chairman Bob Garmory has urged supporters to get to East End Park on Wednesday night to help keep the club’s Scottish Cup dream alive.
Following the 1-1 draw at Somerset Park at the weekend, both the Pars and Ayr United have arranged their replay, with a 7.45pm kick-off.
And with the winner paired away to Rangers in the fifth round draw that was made on Monday, the stakes for the game have just got that little bit higher.
An unexpected extra home game in midweek will give the club another financial boost, but Garmory would love to see the Pars progress as far as they can in the competition for a variety of reasons.
“The manager has taken the view that he’s got a lot of stuff coming up in the next few weeks and the players have been on something of a roll recently, so playing this Wednesday is a good option for us,” he said.
“The players have been in an unbeaten spell, although on Saturday Ayr United probably felt vexed that they couldn’t put us away on their own patch.
“But it’s testament to our team that they were able to come away with entry in the Scottish Cup still intact, and we’ve now got an opportunity to garner some extra financial resources if we get a good crowd this Wednesday.
“It’s a source of income that we will obviously welcome.
“I think it’s true to say that if we had gone out on Saturday that’s what we had budgeted for in our annual figures, but we would’ve been disappointed because Jim Jefferies and the players genuinely believed they could go there and get a result.
“Ayr gave as good as they got and they will feel aggrieved, but we’ve got another chance to get through and hopefully we’ll take it. A year ago we were contemplating the club entering a period where it’s future was not certain.
“Now here we are approaching the turn of 2013 into 2014 and we have a club that is functioning well on and off the park, which has included the payment of the football debt to other clubs and debt to personnel.
“That process is still ongoing and we are honouring our commitment in that respect, but there is a new buzz about the club and there are a lot of good things happening.
“Our intention is to get to the play-offs and once we get there we can go from there, although anything else like a cup run is a bonus that we haven’t budgeted for.”
After the battling 1-1 outcome in Saturday’s Scottish Cup tie, Garmory was relieved to see Dunfermline Athletic’s name still in the hat when the fifth round draw was made Monday afternoon.
That relief turned to delight when Rangers were picked to be their potential opponents, although he admits he would have preferred a home tie.
“We’d love to have drawn Rangers or Celtic at East End Park and beat them, because that would have taken out one or the other of the cup favourites,” he said.
“We’d love home ties between now and the semi-final if I’m telling the honest truth! If you said to me, ‘Would a big glamour home tie with TV make a difference?’ then of course it would.
“I’d be lying if I said it didn’t.
“We know that a glamour tie against Rangers would be great, but we’ve got Ayr United to worry about. Ayr should have ended our cup dream on Saturday, but they didn’t, because our team fought hard and that’s part of the team that is developing the ability to go away from home to difficult places and get a win or a draw when it matters.
“The players are taking on that responsibility of going away from home and winning some tough ties.
“Hopefully we can get a big crowd on Wednesday night and help the lads turn the tables on Ayr, having escaped Somerset Park with our cup dream still alive.”