Stuart McCall is desperate for a victory over Dundee United to pave the way for a return to Hampden.
The Steelmen performed admirably on their last trip to the national stadium, narrowly losing out to Rangers in the Co-operative Insurance Cup semi-final, and the ‘Well gaffer wants a second crack at glory – this time in the Scottish Cup.
“The lads have done terrifically in the cup competitions,” McCall praised. “At the start of the season they did really well in the European games and we also got through to the semi-finals of the League Cup, knocking Dundee United out along the way, and now we’re in the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup.
“The boys have responded really well to cup competitions and hopefully we’ll have a couple more still to play this season.”
Despite the glamour of a potential national semi-final, McCall is looking no further than a tough trip to Tannadice at the weekend.
Peter Houston’s side have been in fantastic form recently, racking up three consecutive wins, and have benefitted from the return of key players like Craig Conway and Danny Swanson. The Arabs are guaranteed to be a huge obstacle for ‘Well.
The gaffer continued: “It’s a huge match. If we were to win on Sunday and get to the semi-final then it would be bigger than beating Celtic for me. What it means to the club and the fans to get to another semi-final is fantastic.
“We know it’s a tough job, outwith the Old Firm it is probably the most difficult tie we could have been given. Away at Tannadice – especially with them getting their players back and having three successes – is a hard game.
“But I believe that if we can perform like we have done in some games this season, and are at our best, then I think it could be a great cup tie.”
The three-time Scottish Cup winner has been candid about his disappointment over ‘Well’s lack of consistently recently, but he insists that the club are ready to bounce back from last weekend’s disappointing defeat to Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
“The players are in confident form, they’ve trained really well this week and everyone is desperate to be involved.” the 46-year old said. “You look back at it [defeat against ICT] and we’ve looked at the goals and the parts of the game that we’re disappointed with.
“The biggest disappointment is that we could have killed Inverness off if we had won that game – we would have put some daylight between us and them.
“We’ve looked at some things and analysed certain things and our focus is now on Tannadice on Sunday and I’m sure we’ll get a better response than we did last Saturday.”