Annan chief Peter Murphy revealed how he had forgotten about the Scottish Cup draw on Saturday night until he saw it flash up on TV in a Glasgow hotel.
The Galabankies manager steered his side to a memorable 4-3 extra time win at Clydebank to earn a bumper last 16 tie with champions Rangers.
However, Murphy had planned to meet up with a pal in the city and admitted: “I had kind of forgotten about it, to be honest.
“I was staying up in Glasgow to meet a friend just for a pint and had not thought about the draw so I was not watching for it. I was getting changed in the hotel to go out when it came on.
“It’s obviously a very appetising tie and I am delighted for my players for the attitude they showed.
“I also had a soft spot for Clydebank who probably thought they were through to the next round so I felt sorry for them as a club. But it’s the cup and somebody has to win and somebody has to lose.
“At the moment our club is sorting out the process of tickets and there is a chance of it being shown on TV and that could mean a change of date for the tie.”
Meanwhile, Murphy is hoping his players can forget about the lucrative cup tie and concentrate on league business this weekend when they take on Stirling Albion at Galabank.
He added: “I don’t want the Rangers game to be a distraction and I want the players to hopefully forget about it all for a couple of weeks.
“I know it will be full on with the media and it will be Rangers, Rangers, Rangers.
“But we have Stirling Albion to play on Saturday and hopefully we can take advantage of the momentum we have built up and make sure the players’ heads are not elsewhere.
“We hope to go make it 11 unbeaten. We’ve got ourselves into a good position. But we cannot rest on of our laurels because everybody wants to test you. I’ll be putting demands on the players again and we’ll see how we go.
“We know it’s going to be a tough game against Stirling as they have a new manager, Darren Young, coming in and a couple of new players so they’ll be a different proposition than before.”
Murphy turned his own attention back to the Rangers clash which will now take place on Saturday February 12 at 5.30pm.
The game has been selected for television coverage by Premier Sports.
He said: “Being on television would bring much needed revenue into the club.
“And hopefully for me, from a selfish point of view, that income can help with strengthening the team for this season and next season.”
