Sean Dillon watched 
Jon Daly use the cups to earn a place in the Dundee United side and plans to emulate his countryman tonight.

The Irishman has been idle this term, playing understudy to Mihael Kovacevic at right-back but hopes to take inspiration from friend Daly, who scored a hat trick against Cowdenbeath to put himself into the picture.

“I’ve been desperate to get back into the side,” said Dillon. “If the manager picks me it’s a chance to work my way back in again. Jon Daly was in a similar position last season but got his chance and scored a hat trick. That got him back into the manager’s plans. That’s got to be the aim for me as well, I need to get back playing again. Training every day is all well and good but you need games on a Saturday to look forward to.”

The tie is one the Alloa players are also eagerly anticipating, with manager Allan Maitland insisting he will take inspiration from Celtic’s European exploits.

“Everyone is very much looking forward to the game but we are under no illusions about how hard it’s going to be against an excellent team with a very good manager,” he said. “It’s nice to be pitting our wits against a SPL side but you also have to take into account the fact we are part-time and they are full-time.

“The gulf is huge. You 
look at Celtic against Arsenal the other night to see the difference there but we know Celtic can beat teams like that because they have done it in the past. We will just go into the game and give it our best shot.”