Tait aspires to be like ‘fantastic’ Tavernier

St Mirren defender Richard Tait admits he aspires to be like fellow full-back James Tavernier.

But Tait will not stand back and admire the free-scoring R angers captain when he leads his side out in Paisley in the Betfred Cup quarterfinals tonight.

Tavernier took his season's tally to 17 goals on Sunday when he netted a sublime 30- yard freekick against Dundee United to maintain R angers' unbeaten record this season.

Ta it said :" They are scoring from all areas of the pitch, especially when you have got a full-back like Tavernier, who is absolutely outstanding.

"As a full-back myself, you look at him and that's what you aspire to be like. He's a fantastic player, but they've got many other players in the team who are terrific as well.

"It' s going to be a tough night, I'm pretty sure we are going to have to ride our luck at times, but if things go our way then there's no reason why we can't cause an upset.

"It's a one - off game, anything can happen. You see cup upsets all the time and we'll be doing our absolute utmost to make sure we are in the next round. It's going to be very difficult but all we can do is try."

Tait, pictured below, has come out on top against Tavernier and R angers in the competition before, beating Pedro Caixinha's side at Hampden in the semi-finals for Mother well three years ago. "Getting to the Betfred Cup final was massive for the club and going on and getting to the final of the Scottish Cup, the community around Mother well at that time was fantastic," the 31-year-old said.

"Everyone came together.

"It was good for the area and, at a time like this, if we can push and manage to do that it would be awesome for Paisley, for sure."