Rangers v St Johnstone, Wednesday 3rd February

My Thoughts

A rare venture into midweek territory for the blog here, for this Co-Op Cup Semi-Final tie at Hampden. Both these sides have been going well in the SPL recently; Rangers have opened up a 10 point gap at the top, while only Celtic have defeated St Johnstone in their last 6 games. Hampden Park shouldn't intimidate St Johnstone- they have made it to the national stadium for semi-finals in both cup competitions on numerous occasions throughout the last few years, and were certainly not outclassed in 2-1 and 3-0 defeats against Rangers this season.

The Verdict
Rangers have generally been doing enough in recent weeks to get results without playing particularly brilliantly, coping with the absence of key players reasonably well. After a slightly shaky start, St Johnstone are now finding their feet in the SPL, and should have more than enough in the tank to avoid relegation. As mentioned, St Johnstone have a good cup record in recent years, and it's certainly not beyond them to take a slightly misfiring Rangers side to extra-time, as they did in 2008 in the Scottish Cup Semi Final, a match remembered for Martin Hardie (himself now ironically facing a lengthy absence through injury) destroying Steven Naismith and Kevin Thomson with bone-crunching tackles.

The Bet
If you fancy the Saints to take Rangers to extra-time, then the draw can be backed at a best price of 9/2 with Bwin. Other than that, semi-finals tend to be notoriously low-scoring, cagey affairs, and a quick look through the Co-Op Cup archives confirms this, and Rangers without Kris Boyd seem devoid of firepower. With that in mind, consider taking under 2.5 goals at a best price of 5/4 with William Hill.