As the Carling Cup fixtures were being played down in England on Tuesday night, some equally unimportant cup fixtures were being played out in Scotland. Unimportant if your team's not involved, imperative if they are, but in general - nobody really cares.
There were a couple of upsets on Tuesday; nobody really expected Ayr United to knock out St. Mirren or for Falkirk to bump Dundee United out either, but everyone's in agreement that they were both joyous results. Ayr have now put three SPL teams out of the competition - which is undeniably great - however, with an attendance of just 4,570 at St. Mirren last night, just how much are fans valuing this competition? To further show just how low that is for a Cup quarter-final; Shrewsbury played at home to Accrington Stanley in the English Npower League Two on Tuesday. Their attendance was 5,076. Their were just 4,188 at Dundee and a very disheartening 4,029 at the Kilmarnock - East Fife game.
Low attendances aside, the Cup's been pretty entertaining. There's been plenty of upsets; Falkirk knocking out Rangers, Ayr knocking out St. Mirren etc. There's been a healthy number of lovely goals scored; two of The Side Netting attended the Killie - QOS tie in which Paul Heffernan scored a wonderful hat-trick. However the League Cup will always be seen as the ugly, moronic brother of the attractive and talented Scottish Cup. Much like how Anton Ferdinand is seen in comparison to Rio. Now that only four teams remain in contention to lift the Anton Cup; Ayr United, Celtic, Falkirk, and Kilmarnock, I'm sure everyone is bursting to know the answers to these three vital questions:
Somebody must care about this competition?
Seeing as the league's already pretty much over - Neil Lennon will. He's two wins away from his second piece of managerial silverware here, and a Cup win might just stop the bulk of Scottish media talking of the pressure, that they invented, enveloping him.
What might happen?
We might get an Ayrshire derby final.
What will happen?
We'll all grudgingly watch Celtic glide to the trophy at nothing more than a canter.
Prove me wrong Scottish Communities League Cup. Prove me wrong.
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