THE Motherwell captain, Keith Lasley, reckons his team-mates can smash a 56-year-old record by eliminating Rangers from the Scottish Cup on Saturday.
JFK had just become US president, Yuri Gagarin became the first man to orbit the earth and music fans were listening to Elvis Presley signing Are You Lonesome Tonight the last time Motherwell won at Ibrox in the competition.
In what was a stunning upset on March 1, 1961, the North Lanarkshire side ran out 5-2 winners in a fourth-round replay in front of 80,000 with Bobby Roberts scoring twice and Ian St John also on the scoresheet.
Lasley knows that Mark Warburton’s side will be favourites but insists Motherwell are heading into the glamour tie in great shape.
The Motherwell captain said: “These records are there to be broken so why not on Saturday? It’s only natural, I suppose, when you look at the size of two clubs that Motherwell have rarely won at Ibrox in the cup. But we are out to change that stat. We’re going into the game with belief.
“It’s the first game after the break and they have a couple of new faces so we’ll see what happens. I think Rangers will be expected to win. I think they’re in a better place now than six to eight weeks ago.
“They obviously lost the Old Firm game but outwith that I think their performances have been good and even their performance within the Old Firm game was much better than the previous one.”
What gives us hope is the performance we produced the last time we were at Ibrox.
“Anyone who was at that match would certainly concede that we were very unfortunate to lose 2-1 – and we might even have won it. We defended at times but when we got on the ball I thought we played good football and we are going to need to do the same again.
“We know that Rangers are going to dominate a lot of possession so we need make sure that we are a threat when we have the ball. It’s a great match to play in and a great place to go and play football.”
Lasley reckons the winter break has been ideal for Motherwell as a lot of injuries have cleared up, not least a shoulder problem which put him out of the last two league matches of last year.
The 37-year-old added: “We’ve been back in training for over a week now and gearing up for the big game at the weekend. I injured myself in the Aberdeen game so the break has been good for me to get fit again – and it’s the same for another couple of the guys who have been carrying knocks.
“The break has been good for all of us just to recharge the batteries. We now have a full squad to choose from and that’s great for the manager because everyone is desperate to get into the team for such a big match.”
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