Banks o’ Dee co-manager Paul Lawson is relishing the chance to take on League Two’s early front-runners Elgin City in the SPFL Trust Trophy.
Dee have got their own Highland League campaign off to a decent start, gathering 10 points from their first four matches to sit just two points behind early pace-setters Brora Rangers.
In the Granite City club’s debut in the competition also known as the Challenge Cup, they defeated Aberdeen B 1-0 to earn this shot at SPFL opponents.
On Tuesday night, they travel east to face an Elgin side top of the fourth tier after season-opening wins against East Fife and Stirling Albion.
Dee, meanwhile, head to Moray on the back of a rousing 4-0 home win against Nairn County on Saturday – and Lawson says his men will be ready for their second-round test.
He said: “We’re playing a team from a league above, so it will be difficult, but we will take confidence certainly from our performance at the weekend. It also always a boost ahead of going into a game like this one.
“We want to go out and give a really good account of ourselves.
“It will be a good surface at Borough Briggs, which will suit us, as it will suit them.
“I know how (the City management) Allan (Hale) and Stefan (Laird) like their teams to play by getting the ball down.
“Elgin have a number of dangerous players, including Dayshonne (Golding), who we know very well (from a loan spell at Dee).
“We also have some really talented players, so hopefully it will make for an entertaining game. It’s one we’re looking forward to.”
Dee players can ‘showcase’ talents
Dee are seen as contenders for this season’s Highland League title and Lawson, who expects his squad to be along similar lines to the weekend, says his squad will use the tie to prove they can compete at a higher level.
He said: “This is the first season our club have been in this competition and it’s great chance for our lads to test themselves against teams such as Elgin higher up the pyramid.
“This gives us the chance to showcase what we’re about.
“We’ve shown in the past as a club, including before my time here, that we can compete with League One and League Two teams – hopefully we can do the same on Tuesday.”
Laird is on red alert for Dee’s visit
Elgin City assistant boss Laird, who alongside manager Hale moved from Highland League Huntly last year, knows what to expect from Dee and is on high alert.
He said: “This will be a very tough tie.
“Banks o’ Dee have made some pretty huge signings, such as Mark Reynolds, Iain Vigurs, and Andy Hunter – who we know very well from Huntly. We know his quality.
“It’s pretty clear that Banks o’ Dee are gearing up to become a League Two team.
“They have acquitted themselves very well against SPFL teams in the Scottish Cup and won a couple of those games.
“They are a team used to winning, so we’re not treating this any differently to a league game. We will have to be at our best if we want to get through.
“We will be picking the team we feel is tactically best to play this game. All the players in the squad this season will start a good number of games.
“Ryan Sargent, for example, has come off the bench in the last two games and made a massive impact. We knew, in those times, bringing Ryan on would cause our opponents real problems.
“He’s also more than capable of starting games for Elgin, so there will be one or two tweaks in our team most weeks – Tuesday won’t be any different.”
Tough cup games sharpened City up
In last month’s Premier Sports Cup group games, Elgin were thumped 5-0 and 4-0 by Premiership side Hibernian and Championship Queen’s Park, respectively.
Laird, who hailed the team’s improving away form, says the benefits of meeting those higher-ranked opponents are beginning to show.
He added: “It’s been a really good start to our league season.
“We were worked really hard in the Premier Sports Cup against high-level opposition, which has worked in our favour in terms of fitness and working on our shape.
“We had a really good attacking performance against East Fife (in a 4-2 win) and we were delighted to win at Stirling at the weekend. It was a good result.
“We were not at our best for the full 90 minutes, so it wasn’t total consistency from us, but last season we’d probably have drawn that game.”
Fraserburgh set for Forfar clash
Also on Tuesday, Highland League Fraserburgh – fresh from their goalless draw with Brechin City on Saturday – host League Two side Forfar Athletic, with kick off at 8pm.
The Aberdeenshire side, with five league points so far, reached the second round of the cup after knocking out Lowland League opponents Hearts B team on penalties after a 1-1 draw. It was the Broch’s first-ever win in the competition.
Ray Mackinnon’s Loons lost 2-1 at Peterhead at the weekend, leaving them on one point from their first two League Two fixtures.
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