Scottish Football / John Girvan / 06 February 2009 /

John Girvan talks us through the best bets this weekend in the Homecoming Scottish Cup where plenty of top flight teams are stil involved. Best bet: Rangers -2.5 goals against Forfar at around [1.8].

It's the last 16 of The Homecoming Scottish Cup this weekend and it's a strong competition this year with only one SPL side, Hibernian, not making it to the 5th Round. The top five Premier League clubs have all been kept apart so there might well be some tasty Quarter Final ties, assuming they all make it through that is.

Aberdeen and Celtic have the easiest passages on paper and the Asian Handicap will reward comfortable home wins handsomely.

The Dons have been excellent at home recently with six wins and a draw from seven and should be more than capable of picking off part timers East Fife. David Baikie's men have decent league form with four wins in six games and sit fourth in the Irn-Bru 2nd Division. A play-off place is their main primary goal this season but they went down 3-0 at 6th placed Peterhead last week and Aberdeen -2.0 goals at around [1.9] appeals.

Gordon Strachan's Celtic should make lighter work of 2nd Division Queens Park than they did of 1st Division Dundee in the last round. The hosts drew at Inverness last week and it was the third time in four league games where they had failed to take all three points. The calibre of opposition is lowering dramatically here however and the home crowd will be looking for a confidence boosting win ahead of the Old Firm encounter. Celtic -2.5 goals looks reasonable at around [1.7].

Since being promoted, Hamilton Academical have been somewhat of a bogey side for Dundee United this season. They triumphed at New Douglas Park on opening weekend and followed that up by taking a point at Tannadice in November. Accies have been on a fine run of home form and have won their last five in succession. They sit 8th in the table, are 11pts clear of relegation and are only one win away from a top six berth.

The Terrors have endured a tough run of events recently. They suffered heart-ache in the cup last week, lost Willo Flood to Celtic in the transfer window and it was an unadventurous performance in the 2-0 defeat at Ibrox last week. A visit to on-form Hamilton will not be relished by Craig Levein's men and of the top five they have by far the toughest passage to the next stage of the competition.

Hamilton are a mouth-watering [2.92] in the Match Odds on Saturday but a replay certainly isn't out of the question and the safe bet is in the Asian Handicap Market where Hamilton -0 will be available at around [1.9].

I fully expect Hearts to make the Quarter Final draw and at the first time of asking. Until a fortnight ago Falkirk were on a miserable run that has seem them slip to 11th in the table and right in the thick of a relegation battle. A point at Fir Park was followed up by their first win over Aberdeen since 1994 last week however so they are up for the fight. There is a huge fixture with St Mirren looming though and this competition is low priority.

The Jambos were on a run of three straight wins until Hamilton took another scalp at New Douglas Park last week. Csaba Laszlo lost Christophe Berra to Wolves in the window and was unable to bring in the striker he has been craving with Chris Porter opting for a move to Derby County. Ultimately this may well cost Hearts a European place but they remain a decent outfit and should come through against Falkirk at [1.69].

Sky Sports have coverage of one live fixture each round and this weekend they have chosen holders Rangers visit to Irn-Bru 3rd Division outfit Forfar. The Loons sit third bottom at present but it's a slightly false position as they played the fewest number of matches and could yet make the play-offs. There was fighting talk from Manager Dick Campbell when the draw was made and he promises "to get in about them".

It will be interesting to see what kind of line-up we see here from Rangers. Steven Naismith is fit again and Kyle Lafferty looked good when he replaced Kris Boyd last week. Debate is still rife where Boyd is concerned and last week's performance was a victory for the "against" corner. If we don't see him on Sunday I doubt we will the following week either and a starting slot for the Ulsterman in attack could be an early indication of what wee will see at Celtic Park next week.

The mismatch is not always as big as the form and league tables tell you. It was in 2002 when Alex McLeish's side ran up a 6-0 victory but the current side maybe aren't quite as creative and a tighter affair should take place on Sunday. Just how tight depends on Walter Smith's starting 11 but if it's strong then I fancy Rangers -2.5 goals at around [1.8].

'.$sign_up['title'].'

'; } } ?>

:

:

:

?

: