Elgin City manager Barry Wilson believes his side must be wary of local rivals Forres Mechanics in today’s Scottish Cup second round tie.
The sides met in the AJG Parcels North of Scotland Cup semi-final last month, with Elgin winning 4-2 against the Highland League side.
Wilson believes that tie has boosted his preparation for this afternoon’s Borough Briggs encounter.
He said: “Forres will smell a shock and we’ve got to make sure the boys’ attitude is right. We know what we’re up against, we played them three weeks ago.
“The norm in this second round is to play against teams you’ve never seen, and sometimes never even heard of. However, given it’s a derby and we’ve already played them, I think both teams will be quite pleased with the draw.
“It’s a tough derby that everyone will be keen to get involved in. Hopefully, there will be a good crowd. We’ll be stronger than we were that night with players to come in, even though we did have a strong team that night. It’s a game we know we need to be very careful about.”
City have lost their last three games and are looking to avert that run when the Can-Cans visit today.
Wilson added: “I thought we had the better of the chances against Arbroath last week but we’re just not taking them just now.
“It’s the only criticism as we’re working really hard and defending a lot better than we were six months ago.
“In the last three games we have fallen by a one-goal margin and it’s something we need to buck.”
Elgin are without Ali Mackenzie, who remains a week away from returning to training, while Matthew Cooper is unlikely to feature after picking up an injury against Arbroath last weekend. However, defender Jamie Duff could return to action.