The pain of Cup games is not lost on Hull City’s Shota Arveladze

Life at Rangers taught Hull City’s coach David v Goliath clashes only tend to be fun if you are the little guy with the catapult. But the former striker sees advantages to the League Cup too, and aims to make the most of them at Bradford City in tonight’s first round.

For Ozan Tufan and Benjamin Tetteh – signed from the Turkish Super Lig this summer – and Oscar Estupinan, who came from Portugal, a Yorkshire derby at a very well-supported League Two side should be a good crash course in English football.

“I had a bad experience playing once at a terrible place where I almost broke my ankle,” recalled Arveladze. “I scored three goals but the goalie caught my ankle and I think I missed two months. I almost had surgery. I had to come off at half-time.”

The Scottish Cup quarter-final was at Second Division part-timers Forfar Athletic in February 2002, Arveladze’s first Ibrox season. He only scored two – Billy Dodds took the matchball – and was clattered by Michael Brown putting away his second.

Arveladze played the five minutes until the break, setting up Andrei Kanchelskis for 4-0.

Rangers’ website described his withdrawal as “probably as a precautionary measure” and he played the whole second half versus Celtic two weeks later but a start against Aberdeen and Scottish FA Cup final – again from the bench against the Bhoys – were all he could contribute for the rest of the season.

The run started with a draw at Shielfield Park, the home of lowly Berwick Rangers.

“It was a really excellent game,” recalls Arveladze. “We all know what goes on in cup games and a lot of English lower-division clubs succeed in the cups.

“They (Hull’s overseas signings) probably have some experience of cup games where it’s about the will (to win) and they will see what it’s like to play three games in a week and how much lower-division teams can give a hard time to someone two divisions up.”

Despite the threat of injury, Arveladze will limit the changes.

“(Tufan, Tetteh and Estupinan) have to feel it – the muscles and especially the brain,” he argued. “They have to get used to this schedule but most of them are young and strong enough.

“We want to get a good result no injuries. When you lose someone you start thinking differently.”