Elgin City midfielder Thomas Reilly is banishing all thoughts of a dream tie against one of the country’s top sides ahead of today’s Scottish Cup third-round tussle against Hawick Royal Albert.
City are strong favourites to defeat their Lowland League opponents, although the Borders men showed their capabilities with a 3-2 win against Berwick Rangers in the previous round.
A win for Jim Weir’s side would put them in the fourth-round draw, alongside the Premiership teams, but Reilly says his players cannot afford to let their attention go any further than today’s match.
Former St Mirren player Reilly said: “We want to test ourselves against teams in the divisiions above, but we know Hawick will want to test themselves against us.
“The motivation is there for us to get through and be among the big teams coming into the next round.
“We would like a good draw if we get through but we aren’t really thinking that far ahead.
“Hawick probably want us to think it’s done but we cannot think like that.
“We know what these teams can be like. Against Spartans last year it took us until the last minute to get a 1-0 win.
“These teams can be really hard to beat, although we did really well in the last round by beating Gala Fairydean 4-0.
“It’s all set up and everyone wants an upset.
“It will be a tough test as they beat Berwick in the last round, so we’ve got to be ready for everything they throw at us.
“With East Kilbride beating Cowdenbeath and Berwick losing against Hawick, the warning signs are there which is probably a good thing for us.”
Elgin go into today’s game on the back of three straight League 2 defeats but, with home matches against Montrose and Berwick to come after today’s match, manager Weir is looking to kick start momentum going into an important period.
Weir said: “The next three or four games coming up are crucial if we want to progress in the cup and attract a big tie to support the club, and also to be in a championship hunt.
“We just have to make sure we’re in the next round. In last year’s competition we probably got the toughest draw at this stage and were unlucky lose 2-1 against Raith Rovers.
“We hope to go one better this time around. On paper it’s an easier tie but there’s no such thing as an easy game.”
City defender Mark Nicolson could return from a knee injury but Scott Smith remains sidelined with an ankle injury.