Falkirk FC: Striker Gary Oliver reckons it is 'unbelievable' that League One Bairns have realistic shot at reaching Scottish Cup final

Inverness Caledonian Thistle – who sit mid table in the Scottish Championship – will be the semi-final opposition for John McGlynn’s side at Hampden Park on Saturday, April 29, with the winners facing either Celtic or Rangers in the Hampden final on Saturday, June 3.

“We’ve got a realistic chance of beating Inverness,” Oliver told the Falkirk Herald. “It’s not as if we’re playing one of the top three or four in Scotland.

"It’s somebody in the Championship so we’ve got a great chance to get through to a final, unbelievable for a League One side.

"As a player you don’t get to many Scottish Cup finals unless you’re playing with Rangers or Celtic.

"So it’s massive. It’s probably the biggest game in most of the boys’ careers so we’re looking forward to it and hopefully we get through to the final. You never know what can happen in a final but we need to get there first.”

While Falkirk’s exploits in beating Wick Academy, Alloa Athletic, Darvel and Ayr United in the Scottish Cup have been fantastic, a faltering league campaign – they didn’t win in five League One fixtures between March 7 and April 8 – has allowed leaders Dunfermline to pull comfortably clear of the second-placed Bairns.

"Maybe having such a big semi-final coming up has made it a bit tougher for us to focus on the league but we try and concentrate on the next game,” Oliver said.

"The gaffer tries to not let us get too carried away. You want to be going into the semi-final in good form and you want to be in the team so you need to keep your form up.

"You want to be playing well or you’ll not be playing in the semi-final. Hopefully when that comes the boys are on form and we get that confidence back that we had a few months ago.

"We just had a bit of a dip in form in the league recently and lost a bit of confidence. It’s a long season and most teams have wee dips in form.

"We just had our dip at the wrong time. After the Dunfermline game (a 2-0 Pars home win on March 7) we just didn’t seem to get going again.

"Dunfermline have ground a lot of games out and maybe we could have done that a bit better this season.”

Falkirk return to league action this Saturday when they host third-placed Airdrieonians, kick-off 3pm.

Oliver added: "Airdrie are obviously a good team who have scored a lot of goals recently as well so they’re a threat and we’ll need to be on our toes if we want to win the game and hopefully we can.”