PREFACE: The following post was made by one of our members on Saturday. Given the result yesterday, we thought it would be apt to give it more exposure today.

With the greatest of respect to Albion Rovers, if the Rangers aren't safely in the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup by tea-time on Sunday, a lot of highly paid people at Ibrox should be looking for a new line of work.

The feel-good factor which followed our victory over Dunfermline in the last round of the cup didn't last too long, did it? Yes, it was great to cruise through to the last eight while Timothy was getting his bum felt by 'Dolly & Co.', to get the kindest of all quarter-final draws, then see the Gers move closer to the League One title with a victory at Ayr, albeit thanks to an excellent performance from keeper Cammy Bell.

However, my euphoria has dissipated more than just a tad. The inept display against Stenhousemuir, followed by ninety minutes of dross at Methil, with the ongoing boardroom shenanigans giving so many sinister elements an opportunity to crawl out from every crack in the pavement, have all combined to take the skip out of my step. But isn't that just the way it has been for all Rangers supporters over these past few years?

Mind you, it was fun while it lasted when not even a rusty Stanley blade could take the smile off my face. I sure let 'The Septic' have it from both barrels.

I laughed about the wee boy who got a Septic dartboard for his birthday. A Septic dartboard? Aye, one with no Doubles and no Trebles!!!

I shook my head in confusion when the team they were calling 'The Unbeatables' lost for the NINTH time this season.

I even went right OTT and suggested that Super Ally might be in line for the Manager of the Year award.

The 'Bheasts from the East' are still hurting big-time. With the tainted title already in the bag, all they've got to look forward to is a series of meaningless league games – watch the numbers nosedive! – they'll try to hype up the party when they finally complete the formality of clinching the thing but nobody will be kidded. Timothy's next couple of months will be a massive anti-climax, their gloating has come back to haunt them and we shouldn't let them forget it for a second.

But one of the heavy-duty lines we used when the corrupt SPL was taking great delight in our problems has crossed my mind once or twice of late and I wonder if, after he'd punched the air and had a wee giggle at Dolly's 2-1 win in the cup-tie at The Piggery, Ally McCoist was on the same wavelength.

'Be careful what you wish for' we warned our enemies as they plotted together to push us into the wilderness, hoping we would never return. The subsequent collapse of the SPL, the frog-marching of the smaller clubs into the new equally corrupt league set-up, the steady decline of interest, the drop in attendances and the significant absence of a sponsor has confirmed that Scottish football is well and truly fecked without the Blue pound. They got what they wished for and they are suffering for it - G.I.R.U.Y!!!

So what on earth has that got to do with Ally McCoist? Well, just as the small minded folks who wished ill on Rangers were left with egg on the face, Ally's smile following Septic's early end-of-season party has surely heaped additional pressure on him. Make no mistake about it, with the Bheasts out of the picture, our manager knows he will have nowhere to hide if the Rangers don't win the Scottish Cup.

Yes, I know he has poured cold water on suggestions that the Gers are favourites and no doubt he will continue to talk up our rivals. We are, after all, a third tier outfit, still a work in progress as we make our way back to the top flight.

But c'mon, with a home draw against Albion Rovers in the quarter-finals, a semi-final already scheduled for Ibrox - will the SFA have the stomach to stand up to the latest sporting integrity lobby? – then a one-off at Breezeblock Boulevard, it is surely not asking too much of our highly paid players, most of whom have a top league pedigree, rise to the challenge, respond like real Rangers players and give us all a day to remember on May 17.

This is what playing for the Rangers is all about. When they pledged their immediate futures to our club, guys like Cammy Bell, Ian Black, Nicky Law, Dean Shiels, Nicky Clark, John Daly and David Templeton were slagged off for abandoning ambition for cold hard cash. They put money ahead of medals, sneered those guardians of public morals, the holier-than-thou scumbags of the Scottish Press Gang.

Now our guys have a wonderful opportunity to show they can win a major honour as well as pick up an inflated pay packet. If they possess anything resembling personal pride in their performance, if they care about their professional reputation, they should be ready to run themselves into the ground to join the impressive roll of honour of Rangers players who have won the Scottish Cup.

This really is a no-brainer. Our players know how Scottish football conspired against our club, they will have heard their motives bad-mouthed, read of their talents being rubbished, picked up the snide comments behind their back as they went about their day-to-day business. Could they ask for more intense motivation?

And no man should be driven with more determination than Ally McCoist. He knows many Rangers fans have still to be convinced by his ability to take the club forward. All the controversy surrounding his megabucks salary for winning a couple of Mickey Mouse leagues against part-time players will evaporate in an instant if he can steer the Teddy Bears through these next three cup ties.

Albion Rovers is surely a given, remembering last season's disgraceful capitulation at Tannadice, a semi-final at Ibrox should be seen as payback time for the long-suffering Rangers support, a lot of slates will be wiped clean if we can enjoy our revenge against Dundee United or see off St. Johnstone, or avenge last season's League Cup debacle at the hands of Inverness Caley Thistle or, whoopeedoo, succeed where FC Sporting Integrity de la Gallowgate failed by gubbing the Mutton Molesters.

Winning trophies is the name of the game, regardless of what league we are playing in, and we are well placed to pick up a few between now and the end of the season. My suggestion that Ally would be a contender for Manager of the Year was just to noise up Timothy but, if he can get his team to do the League One, Pawnshop Cup and Scottish Cup treble, his pals in the media might just give him the vote.

And wouldn't it be a great opportunity for him to then walk away with his ego and reputation relatively intact.