Dyce Juniors boss Alfie Youngson has challenged his side to achieve the biggest result in their history by reaching the semi-finals of the Scottish Junior Cup.
Dyce are at home to Yoker Athletic of the West of Scotland league tomorrow afternoon and have already broken new ground by reaching the last eight for the first time.
Youngson’s side have been cup specialists this season, with quarter-finals in the North Regional Cup and Inter-Regional Trophy to come in the next two weekends.
They reached this stage after a dramatic 1-0 win over Muirkirk in November and are the only north side remaining in the competition.
Dyce have achieved success in regional cups in the past but getting to the final four in Scotland would supercede that.
Youngson said: “I think it’s nearly four decades since a team from our area got to this stage. But you don’t get any trophies for reaching the quarter-finals.
Welcome to Ian Mair Park and make it your venue of choice this Saturday. @YokerAthleticFC https://t.co/MRSYUDmWGB
— Dyce Juniors FC (@FcDyce) March 8, 2022
“We don’t want to rest on that. We want to go further. Over the course of their existence Dyce have won four or five regional trophies but this would be deemed to be a bigger success.
“It would probably be the biggest result in the club’s history. We said before the last round the players could get their own bit of history. But to be deemed as one of the better sides up here we need to be at this stage of the competition.”
Owing to their progress in multiple cup competitions, Dyce have a backlog of fixtures in the Superleague. However, with Banks o’Dee running away with the title, the club’s priorities have shifted.
Youngson added: “We can’t get anywhere near them. It would be a backlog of games in the league but the cup games are the important ones.”
Yoker are ninth in the West of Scotland Conference C and Youngson expects them to be favourites when they visit Ian Mair Park.
He added: “In one-off games, you always get underdogs getting results which are unexpected.
“Our league form has been a bit flakey but we’ve been good in the cup competitions.
“There’s no point getting to the quarter-finals and getting knocked out. We want to take advantage of this position and go one step further.
“We don’t have a lot of information on them but it’s the same as the West Calder and Muirkirk games. We’ll concentrate on what we can do and we’re 14 games unbeaten at the moment.”
Dyce will be without long-term injury victim Nick Gray and Darren Reid, who is suspended.
