Livingston full-back keen to book Hampden date after missing Lions' last trip

Livingston defender James Penrice admits he's desperate to book a Hampden date with the club - because he should have been playing in the last one.

The Lions reached the League Cup final three seasons ago with the Livingston lad reduced to watching it on the TV after transfer talks between Partick Thistle and his hometown club fell apart.

Now, he's out to cause an upset at Ibrox - although he's under no illusions as to how difficult a task that will be this evening.

He said: "Getting to Hampden would be massive for the club. They got their during covid but the fans would love to go. There was actually talks of me coming to the club that season so sitting into the house watching it wasn't great. It's what might have been.

"It didn't happen but I'd love to get to a semi-final. There were talks but that stopped and it never managed to happen but I ended up coming here at the end of my contract with Thistle. They did really well that season and you want to try and get into any cup final - that would be a career highlight for me."

The 24-year-old is hopeful the Lions can frustrate the home crowd this evening but admits they have to be better than their last trip - a 4-0 league loss in August. The Lions conceded three times in the closing stages that time to negate what had been a decent performance for large parts.

He said: "Keeping it at 0-0 until half-time and then as the clock ticks on, if we frustrate, the fans boo and I think that can get into players' heads.

"They just beat Real Betis so we're not stupid to say we'll just turn up and do it but we'll need to try and do a job and get into the next round. We'll look at that league game and show what we did wrong.

"There were points where we could have nicked a goal but it