McCall and Black crave final fling

ANY notion that the Alba Challenge Cup sits firmly at the bottom end of priorities for teams in the Scottish League has been hotly disputed by Ian McCall and Kenny Black, whose sides meet in one of the competition's semi-finals tomorrow.

Partick Thistle and Airdrie United have altogether different priorities this season, Thistle apparently genuine contenders for promotion to the SPL while tomorrow's visitors to Firhill would be content merely to maintain their First Division status into next season. Yet they have entered the last four of this cup with the same aim: that of creating history.

"It is 37 years since Partick Thistle were in a cup final," stressed their manager, McCall. "Maybe in the first couple of rounds there is not such a priority on this cup, but a final between Thistle and Morton, for example, would attract a 10,000 crowd. Nobody can tell me this is a meaningless cup, and there is certainly no such thing as a meaningless semi-final."

Black, who played in two Airdrieonians teams which reached Scottish Cup finals, has a similar agenda. Under their new guise of Airdrie United, Black's team have the potential to win their first knockout trophy.

"There is a pressure from our own fans because they want to get to a cup final," said Black. "We have won the Second Division championship as Airdrie United, but it would be nice to add to that with a cup. We desperately want to win the first silverware of the season.

"This is a completely different team and in a completely different football climate to what I was part of with Airdrie, but now we have a chance to create our own history by winning our own honours. And, of course, nobody wants to lose a semi-final."

McCall concedes it is useful to have a fortnight's break from league business in what he stresses is "the most competitive division in Scotland". He also feels that those who may seek to knock the standard which will be on show – probably in front of a crowd in excess of 4,000 – will be in for a shock.

"If Queen of the South played St Mirren five times just now, for example, I couldn't tell you who would win the more games," added the Thistle manager. "The gap between the Premier League and the First Division has never been so small."

Black is unsure over the relative strengths of his own league, but points to the cup success enjoyed this season by Morton and Dunfermline as proof of the First Division's ability to create one-off success stories at least. Added to that, Partick Thistle came within three minutes of taking Rangers to penalty kicks in the Co-operative Insurance Cup, and Airdrie eliminated Hearts from the same competition in Edinburgh.

"I have noticed that what happens in the cup can breed confidence," said Black. "We won at Tynecastle, then beat Morton 5-0 in our next game. But as far as I am concerned, we will have to play as good if not better than we did against Hearts to beat Thistle. We got Hearts at a good time with the new manager in place and maybe unsure of his best team, you only have to look at how well Thistle did against Rangers to recognise the challenge in front of us."

There is an interesting off-field challenge surrounding this tie, too. BBC Alba, the station's new Gaelic-speaking channel, will screen the semi-final tie live and will even broadcast a preview show at 7.30 this evening. There are no Gaelic speakers in either team – numbers of Thistle and Airdrie supporters who are fluent in Scotland's ancient language are also unknown – but the screening represents an interesting and new concept.

Suspension will play its part in each line-up. Thistle's influential midfielder, Gary Harkins, is banned, as are the Airdrie duo Marc Smyth and Kevin McDonald. In a major boost to the hosts, though, prolific striker Liam Buchanan, who has been out since February with a groin problem, has a realistic chance of being named among the substitutes.

FACT BOX

TEN goals in September between them were enough for East Fife's Paul McManus and Livingston's Calum Elliot to win the Irn Bru Phenomenal Player awards for the month. McManus scored a hat-trick against Alloa and a double against Ayr United, whilst Elliot struck doubles against Dundee and Partick and once against Airdrie.