Elgin City keeper Thomas McHale sees no reason why they can’t send Championship leaders Caley Thistle crashing out of the SPFL Trust Trophy this Saturday.
The confident shot-stopper welcomes the change of competition as City switch from the early toils in League Two to trying to knock the Inverness team out of the cup and book a berth in the last eight.
INVERNESS CT
Not Long to go until our Cup clash vs Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC in the SPFL Trust Trophy ⚽
Information on how to purchase tickets can be seen in the below video 🤍 pic.twitter.com/HzpkqGqtFD
— Elgin City F.C. (@ElginCityFC) October 4, 2021
The 26-year-old Englishman points to the fact Elgin have troubled higher tier opponents in recent years.
In the past few years, they have twice knocked out Hibs’ under-20s out of the Challenge Cup, while they’ve defeated Dundee, Airdrieonians, East Fife and taken Raith Rovers all the way in knock-out clashes.
Sharp training key for Elgin City
To send ICT spinning would top the lot though and McHale insists they’ll be all set for the challenge.
He said: “We’ll have two really good training sessions this week and be ready for it.
“We have done it against teams from higher divisions before and there is nothing to say we can’t win it on Saturday.
“It will be a different sort of test for us compared to what we face in the league. They will be just as up for the game as we are, so we will go out and do our best to put on our very best performance and hopefully get the result.
“It will be tough. They are the full-time team against a part-time team, but you never know what can happen. Let’s hope for the best result we can produce.
“We like to go as far as we can in the cups. We have shown that in previous seasons, that we like to compete with the big boys. We’re all looking forward to it.”
McHale calls for fan power
The Caley Jags often visit Borough Briggs in pre-season, but this will be the first opportunity for McHale to take them on in a meaningful match.
He added: “I’ve not played against Caley Thistle in a competitive game yet, only in pre-season. Last time we played them, it was during the pandemic so there were no fans there.
“It’s an exciting prospect for us. I am sure we’ll get a great backing from the Elgin fans inside Borough Briggs. We could do with a big support as I’m sure the fans are looking forward to this just as much as the players are.
“With that competitive edge, both teams will be going out there to put on a performance and I don’t see any reason why we can’t get the result to take us through to the next round.”
Changes won’t weaken Caley Jags
Elgin reached this stage after Championship Dunfermline were unable to field a team due to Covid, injuries and players on international duty, resulting in a 3-0 walkover win.
Inverness made 10 changes as they beat Buckie Thistle 4-0 and McHale won’t be surprised if their opponents shake up their line-up again, although perhaps to a lesser extent.
However, the keeper doesn’t buy into the ‘weaker team’ suggestion as he knows ICT have strength in depth.
He said: “Teams from the higher league, when they make a number of changes, they are replaced by players who can still play at that level.
“No matter who lines up for Caley Thistle, they’ll have a strong side out, but we are preparing correctly for this one.”
Plucking positives from league loss
A goal late in each half saw Elgin slip to a 2-0 home league loss against second-top Stirling Albion at the weekend, leaving them seventh in the table, five points behind fourth-placed Forfar Athletic.
Yet the post-match numbers showed injury-hit Elgin enjoyed 62% possession, and McHale is taking positives from the outcome.
He added: “The stats show we were on top for a large part of the game, but it just wasn’t to be for us. By and large, we can be really pleased with the way we played.
“We lost a goal just on half-time, which wasn’t ideal. It was always going to be tough against Stirling Albion. They were well prepared and ready to play us after we had quite a number of good results against them in the past.
“It was irritating for us, but we just have to move on from that and ensure we’re ready for this big game on Saturday.”