Hibernian have not had too many off days this season and Cove Rangers boss Paul Hartley knows his players cannot afford one of their own tomorrow.
The odds are against Cove causing an upset in their Betfred Cup opener against the in-form Hibees, however Hartley believes they do have the quality to cause the Premiership high-flyers problems.
Hartley said: “It’s a team that’s near the top end of the table after a wonderful start. We’ve got to be at our best – we need to be on it for the whole game, in and out of possession. Our discipline has got to be good and hopefully we can cause them problems.
“It’s about concentration and discipline. You’ve got to keep your focus, you can’t switch off. They’ve got players in the final third that can hurt you.
“Hopefully we can create enough chances and if we do, we’ve got be ruthless and take it. I think we’ve got enough quality in the final third to create chances. It’ll be a game for everyone to be at their best; we can’t afford anyone off their game.”
Cove players and staff were tested for Covid-19 prior to the game and all results came back negative, which came as a relief to the club after the situation involving the Scotland national team this week.
Hartley added: “You’re never quite sure but everything is good, so that’s been a positive to come through it unscathed.”
The League Two champions played five pre-season friendlies to build up to the new season, including two against full-time Championship opposition in Dundee. Tomorrow lunchtime though represents another step up for the Aberdeen side.
Hartley said: “It’s been as good as we could have hoped for. We’ve not had competitive games – Hibs are obviously 10 games into the season – but we’ve done a lot of work this week and we’ll have a gameplan for Saturday.
“They’ve got a lot of good players and a lot of speed in their team. They’re a good counter-attacking team and their strikers are on form. We don’t know what team they’ll put out but they’ve got a lot of good options. We’re a massive underdogs for the game and no-one will give us a chance of winning. But we’ve shown we’re a strong team at home and we’ll try do ourselves proud as much as we can.
“The first two games are a build-up to the first league game against East Fife. We’ll have to put a lot of work into Saturday’s game and then we’ve got a long journey on Tuesday night (to Brora). We’ll have one day of preparation for East Fife and that’ll be Thursday.
“It’s just about getting as much work in as we can over the next two games and come out of them unscathed with no injuries.”
Seb Ross looks likely to miss the game with a knock while midfielder Fraser Fyvie, who hurt his knee in a pre-season game at Dens Park, could also miss out.
Hartley added: “The game might be too soon for him (Fyvie). Rory (McAllister), Broque Watson, (Ryan) Strachan; we assessed them last night and we’ll just have to wait and see.”