Raith Rovers: Winger Aidan Connolly gives his thoughts on drawing Rangers away in Scottish Cup quarter-finals

“It's going to be a tough place to go,” ex-Dundee United ace Connolly, 27, told the Fife Free Press. “We are going to try our best, work hard and see what happens.

"Rangers and Celtic are the best teams in Scotland and if I’m being honest I think the boys would rather have avoided them and Hearts.

"You would rather go as far as you can because obviously Falkirk or Ayr United have the chance of going to a semi-final and that’s going to be a great bit of history for their club.

"You want to be involved in that rather than hitting one of the big dogs because it's going to be a difficult task to try and get past them.”

Connolly has experience of playing at Ibrox with former club Queen’s Park and was on Dundee United’s books when the Arabs prevailed 3-1 in Govan in a Scottish Cup semi-final in 2014.

Raith booked their quarter-final place this year after convincingly seeing off Premiership strugglers Motherwell 3-1 at Stark’s Park on Saturday.

"I actually think we’ve played better in games in all honesty,” Connolly said.

"We all worked hard and defended well at points. It’s obviously a great result against a Premiership side.

"Of course I could tell the Motherwell boys were very low on confidence. Football is all about confidence.

"Once you’re low on confidence, no matter how good a player you are, it’s hard to go out and play well.

"That’s just the way it is sometimes and I think you could see that with Motherwell.”

A brilliant week for Raith – which had begun with a vital 2-1 league win at Arbroath – continued with a 4-3 penalty shootout win after a 2-2 draw at Dundee last Wednesday night which has qualified them for the SPFL Trust Trophy final against Championship bottom club Hamilton Accies on Sunday, March 26.

“It’s been a good week for us winning the three games,” Connolly said. “The boys are all buzzing.

"Everyone knows what it’s like when you’re winning, it’s easier to go into work.

"I think when boys aren’t playing well just now, other boys are stepping up which is important.

"In games just now we are coming back from being goals down, which we weren’t doing at the start of the season and midway through the season.

"Now we are starting to fight back which is a good sign.

"Of course we have great belief that we’ll win the SPFL Trust Trophy final but I think Hamilton have improved a lot, they’re a lot better now.

"I’ve watched them a few times, they’re a team that’s on the up and I think they could come out of the bottom spot.

"We’re not going to turn up and just beat them.

"A few of the boys that I travel in the car with have not won that cup or played in the final before.

"It’s a good day and you get a good crowd. Obviously if you lose it’s not great but hopefully we can go and win.”