Albion Rovers boss Brian Reid has called on his side to seize a big opportunity to reach the Scottish Cup fourth round by dumping another university side out of the competition.
But he has warned his players not to underestimate Lowland League Stirling University in their third round clash at Cliftonhill on Saturday.
The Coatbridge men side knocked Glasgow University out of the cup last month, winning 4-1 after extra-time, to earn a shot at Stirling.
And while Reid says there’s no chance of his side underestimating the students, he does acknowledge that it is a great chance for on-form Rovers to progress in the competition.
Their visitors to Cliftonhill currently sit second-top of their division and are on a formidable run of six straight wins.
But Rovers are also unbeaten in six, with back-to-back wins following Saturday’s 1-0 victory at home to Stranraer.
Reid said: “We certainly won’t underestimate them; they’re one of the form teams in the Lowland League, are sitting second-top, and are on a good unbeaten run as well. We’ve had them watched, I think they were at our game, so it will be a typical cup tie.
“We’ve got home advantage and we’re a division up, but that’s always a potential banana skin that we want to avoid.
“We need to make sure we approach it in the right manner and give them the respect they’re due. If we do that then we’ll give ourselves an opportunity to make progress.”
Reid was pleased with the win over Jamie Hamill’s Stranraer, courtesy of Callum Wilson’s 59th-minute rocket shot.
That moved Rovers up to seventh in League Two, four points off fourth-placed East Fife, who them defeated 3-2 the previous week.
Reid said: “It was a scrappy game.
“I don’t think the pitch or the conditions laid out for pure football or anything like that, but the most important thing was another clean sheet for us.
“We saw it out, that’s credit to the players. They battled away. It was scrappy, there wasn’t much between the two teams because I didn’t think they played great, attacking football either.
“But we’re in better shape than we were half a dozen games ago.
“When you’re on a decent run you want to keep the momentum going, keep the confidence in the team and hopefully keep everybody fit.”
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