Raith Rovers: Skipper Scott Brown reckons Rangers will be '100% switched on' after fright against Partick Thistle

Thistle – then under gaffer Ian McCall who was sacked post match – scored first and competed very well against the cup holders in Govan on February 12 before ultimately succumbing 3-2 to an 86th minute James Sands goal for the hosts.

But, when asked if he thinks the Maryhill underdogs’ sterling efforts against Rangers offer Raith extra hope of getting a positive result when they travel there for the last eight clash on Sunday, March 12, Brown told the Fife Free Press: “That’s probably worked to our disadvantage to be fair.

"Not that Rangers took it easy on Partick, but it’s probably made them realise that the Championship is a better standard than what they thought it was going to be and they did obviously get a wee fright that day.

"So we know that come our game they will be 100% switched on.

"But we beat Motherwell at home (a 3-1 victory for Rovers in the Scottish Cup fifth round on Febrary 11).

"And if Motherwell were going to Ibrox you wouldn’t say it was a foregone conclusion that Rangers were going to win. So we need to go there with belief in ourselves and the feeling that we can cause an upset.

"Because if you go there and think: ‘How many are we going to get beaten by?’ you are not going to do anything on that day.

"So I feel in the dressing room that we need to believe. And I feel that the boys do believe that we can go there and cause a shock.

"It’s obviously going to take an amazing performance from us and Rangers to have an off day, that goes without saying, but we’ll go there thinking we can win.”

Brown, 28, who joined Raith last summer after six years at Peterhead, has never won at Ibrox in his career and next month’s tie would be an incredible place to start.

He added: "I don’t think many players have to be fair.

"We obviously know they’re a good team and it’s one of the hardest draws we could have got.

"But listen, we know that cup shocks can happen. There will have been bigger shocks in history than Raith beating Rangers.

"If we execute our game plan and play well then we’ve got a chance.

"We hope that we can go out there and hopefully cause them problems but I’m sure the club will be happy that we’ve been drawn away to Rangers as the club should make a good bit of income from it as well.

"We will go there and enjoy the day.

"The pressure will be all on Rangers of course and then the week after that we have a cup final to look forward to (the SPFL Trust Trophy showpiece against Hamilton Accies at the Falkirk Stadium on Sunday, March 26).

"So it’s an exciting couple of weeks coming up for the boys I would imagine.”