ROSS: THIS IS TOUGHER THAN CELTIC FACING BARCA
ALLOA boss Jack Ross insists taking on Celtic tonight is an even greater task for the Wasps than their opponents faced against Barcelona. Ross pored over Brendan Rodgers’ opinions prior to Celtic’s mammoth Champions League challenge in the Nou Camp and, with this evening’s Betfred Cup quarter-final in mind, knew what he was going through. The League One leaders will hope to avoid the kind of embarrassing 7-0 thrashing that befell the Scottish champions in Spain and, in fact, are heading into the match full of optimism they can pull off a huge upset. But Ross claimed his part-timers are confronted with an even bigger test than Celtic faced against Messi and Co. ‘I read quite a lot of Rodgers’ comments prior to the Barcelona game last week and I thought they were all sensible,’ said Ross. ‘I could have copied and pasted them for myself ahead of this week’s game, because they are very similar. ‘The disparity between ourselves and Celtic, in terms of turnover and budget, is probably a great deal larger than that between Celtic and Barcelona. So that just shows the size of the task. ‘The way we have started the season, we go into games almost as favourites at the moment. However, for this tie we’re not just underdogs — but huge underdogs. ‘There’s no point in me kidding the players on and saying it’s not going to be difficult. They know that, they’re sensible. ‘But the way we’ve played this season means we have an opportunity and the one thing we have to stress is we are only two games away from a cup final. You can’t forget that, regardless of the opposition.’ After beating Ross County in the group phase, Alloa created history when they defeated another top-flight side, Caley Thistle, in the last round to earn their trip to Parkhead. They became the first Wasps side to reach the last eight of the competition since 1965 and, boosted by 11 wins from 12 competitive matches so far this season, are daring to dream tonight. ‘If we don’t believe we can create more history, there’s no point in us turning up or getting off the bus,’ said Ross. ‘The group will feel they’ve got an chance to be history-makers again, in an even bigger sense. Our motivation is huge. ‘I have huge respect for Celtic as a club and what they have achieved and what they’re doing. ‘But the reason we watch football is because upsets can happen at any time.’