April slot looks likely for Firhill cup replay

THE Scottish Football Association is expected to announce today that the Scottish Cup quarter-final replay between Partick Thistle and Rangers at Firhill will go ahead on Sunday 13 April.

Negotiations involving the SFA, both clubs, the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League took place throughout yesterday in an attempt to find an acceptable slot in the Ibrox club's congested fixture schedule for the match.

In the worst-case scenario, Rangers may need to have their season extended. They potentially have only three free midweeks open to them before the season is due to officially end with the Scottish Cup final on 24 May. Wednesday's 1-1 draw with Thistle at Ibrox, however, landed them with another game to reschedule in addition to their three outstanding SPL games away to St Mirren, Celtic and Motherwell.

The cup replay is now set to be confirmed for 13 April, the day originally set aside for the semi-final against St Johnstone, which is now likely to be played on Sunday 20 April.

If Rangers make further progress in the Uefa Cup, beyond their two-legged quarter-final tie against Sporting Lisbon on 3 and 10 April, and overcome Thistle at Firhill, their options for rearranging those other fixtures will become even more restrictive.

The Uefa Cup semi-finals, where Rangers would meet either Fiorentina or PSV Eindhoven if they qualify, take place on 24 April and 1 May, with the final being staged at the City of Manchester Stadium on 14 May.

That would leave the Wednesdays of 16 April, 7 May and 21 May as the only definite free midweek slots on Rangers' calendar. In that case, Walter Smith's team would either have to play two games in one of those weeks or be granted an extension to their season by the SPL.

It is understood Rangers proposed playing their Scottish Cup replay on Tuesday night, just 24 hours before Scotland's friendly against Croatia at Hampden.

That would have entailed the five Rangers players in new manager George Burley's first squad – Allan McGregor, Christian Dailly, Barry Ferguson, Lee McCulloch and Kris Boyd – being withdrawn for duty in the cup tie but the matter did not reach that stage of discussion when Partick Thistle objected to the short notice involved in arranging the game for Tuesday.

Scottish Cup competition rules also give ties in the tournament precedence over league games and Sunday 6 April, when Rangers are due to face Dundee United at Tannadice in the final SPL game before the split, was also mooted for the quarter-final replay.

That was successfully resisted by the SPL, however, as it was unwilling to see broadcasters Setanta Sports lose yet another of their live television fixtures and Dundee United miss out on the income that coverage will bring.