Gavin Price insists his Elgin City side will play on the front foot when they take on Championship leaders Caley Thistle this Saturday.
The north rivals, two divisions apart, meet at Borough Briggs in the SPFL Trust Trophy with a quarter-final place at stake.
Although they meet almost annually in pre-season, Elgin and the Caley Jags have only met twice competitively, both in the Scottish Cup.
Last-gasp goals from Adam Rooney and Dani Sanchez nudged ICT over the line in a 2-0 home victory in 2010/11, then Mark Nicolson’s opener was cancelled out by goals from Larnell Cole and Lonsana Doumbuya as the Inverness team won 2-1 in Elgin six years later.
An improved performance in the 2-0 League Two loss by Stirling Albion last Saturday encouraged City boss Price.
Now he wants to add to the record of the Moray club going deep into this competition, known previously as the Challenge Cup.
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
He said: “It’s a game the supporters, players and everyone at the club is looking forward to.
“I was involved in the cup game a few years ago and there was a really good atmosphere and I’m sure it will be again on Saturday.
“Hopefully we can put on a good show and try to get into the next round. We don’t know how Caley Thistle will line-up, but we’ve been preparing for it. They’re a full-time team and will be strong, but we’ll be ready for it.
“We will do all the things we work on every week. We’ll need to be strong defensively, strong as a unit and take our chances when they come.
“We won’t be in our shells and be on the front foot from the start to give ourselves a chance of winning the game.”
Elgin target is another cup scalp
The Challenge Cup has provided high points for Elgin in recent years and Price would relish the chance to add another scalp to the list.
All the information for this Saturday’s match vs ICT can be found here https://t.co/5v3ft7Cj6V
Look forward to seeing you all Saturday 🖤 pic.twitter.com/IV7KmE65G7
— Elgin City F.C. (@ElginCityFC) October 7, 2021
He added: “We’re certainly capable. When we stick together, we’ve produced really good results. We’ve done well against Airdrie, Raith Rovers and Dundee.
“We have beaten full-time teams before and it would be great if history repeats itself. We will be doing all we can to win the game.”
League progress will follow cup-tie
After the dust settles on the ICT clash, Price will immediately switch his attention to getting a much-needed win for his seventh-placed League Two team, who are five points outside the top four.
They go to Albion Rovers, who are one spot below them, next weekend and the manager said: “We will need to start picking up more points.
“Despite the result against Stirling, I was happy with the performance. Results will hopefully take care of themselves soon enough.
“If we play like we did at the weekend, we will get more positive results than not. We’re just waiting for a rub of the green.”
Main striker Kane Hester remains sidelined with a hamstring injury, on-loan Falkirk and ex-ICT youth forward Jaime Wilson is unavailable and defender Matthew Cooper continues to recover from his long-term injury.
