The careers of Peter MacDonald and Kenny Miller have followed radically different paths in the six years since they were last paired in attack for Rangers reserves.

MacDonald left Ibrox to join St Johnstone as a highly-regarded 20-year-old prospect, but found his potential stymied by a succession of injuries as the club have been unable, so far, to return to the top division. Miller, a year older, moved to Wolves later in 2001, establishing himself as the spearhead of the national team before returning north to join Celtic last summer.

It is, though, the more established of the pair who may feel he has a point to prove come their reunion in Saturday's Tennent's Scottish Cup semi-final. Miller's lack of goals has been a frequent point of debate this season, but MacDonald believes the criticism has been excessive.

"I played a few reserve games with Kenny at Rangers, maybe five or six," said the striker who scored one of the goals against Motherwell that took his side into the last four. "It's just not right the criticism he has had lately. He is a quality player and because he's not scoring goals he's getting it. But I think this is the first season in his career that he hasn't scored as many as people might expect.

"He has set high standards and maybe that's why he is receiving a bit of stick. To me, he is quality and you see that when he plays for Scotland.

"He was very young when he joined Rangers from Hibs, and was also unlucky that there were big names there like Ronald de Boer and Michael Mols; world class players who were absolutely brilliant. But he went on to Wolves, had a good time there, and moved to a big team again at Celtic. That's a decent record for anyone."

MacDonald is relishing the simple pleasure of being able to string together a solid run of matches, something which has developed his forward partnership with Jason Scotland.

"It's been a while since I had an injury-free run like this one, I think John Connolly was the manager here the last time," said MacDonald, who admitted he would trade a cup final for promotion. "I'm just enjoying it while it lasts. I'm getting fitter week by week. The more I train and the more games I play the better it gets.

"Myself and Jason Scotland are very different. He is unbelievable ability-wise and not many players can touch him; not even in the SPL.

"He has that Trinidadian way about him, it's the way they are brought up. He sits there with a big cigar and moves at half pace, but he is a very special player when he wants to be.

"It wouldn't surprise me if he stole the show on Saturday, I hope he does, but we have a lot of good players other than Jason."