Buckie Thistle manager Graeme Stewart says they have the belief to pull off one of the greatest results in their history.
The Jags face Championship side Inverness Caley Thistle in the second round of the Scottish Cup tonight.
Buckie start as underdogs, with this evening’s encounter being their first competitive action since Boxing Day.
Boss Stewart is upbeat and said: “We are the underdogs, but we believe we have a chance.
“I don’t go into any game thinking we haven’t got a chance and I’ve got a lot of faith in the squad we’ve got.
“Inverness are rightly the favourites and they’re a good team who are full-time, three divisions above us and have been training and playing when we haven’t been.
“It’s an uphill task, but we believe we’ve got a chance and we have to believe that otherwise there’s no point in playing the game.
“You’ve got to be confident and you’ve got to have belief, otherwise what’s the point?
“I’m not here to come second or third in the league and players don’t sign for Buckie to come second or third, we want to win the league, we want to win cups and we want to go far in the Scottish Cup.
“I’m competitive and I want to win every game we play. You’ve got to have confidence – not arrogance – but you’ve got to be confident and you’ve also got to prepare properly.
“If you do that and put the right work in then you’ve always got a chance so we believe we’ve got a chance.
“We know we’ll need to play at our best and we’ll need Inverness to have a bit of an off day, but we hope our gameplan can maybe make then have an off day.”
Buckie have previously beaten a side from Scotland’s second tier in the Scottish Cup when they defeated Queen’s Park in a fourth round replay at Hampden in season 1954-55.
Assessing what victory over Inverness would represent, Stewart added: “I think it would be the biggest result in Buckie’s history and certainly recent history since I’ve been involved.
“I don’t Buckie has beaten a full-time club before, we almost beat Morton (in 2007) but lost 3-2 and they were full-time.
“In terms of achievement it wouldn’t be the biggest achievement because winning leagues is bigger.
“But in terms of a result I think it would be right up there as one of the best, if not the best, in Buckie’s history.”
Since this tie was originally supposed to be played on January 9 there have been changes at Inverness.
Manager John Robertson has taken compassionate leave following a family bereavement and assistant Scott Kellacher is recovering from serious illness.
Neil McCann has been appointed interim manager with former Ross County assistant Billy Dodds also added to the coaching staff.
Stewart said: “John Robertson was my manager when I was there and I wish John all the best and I hope everything is OK and he’s able to come back.
“Scott Kellacher was a team-mate of mine over 20 years ago and I hope he’s OK and makes a recovery as well.
“I know both of them really well and although they’re not there the quality of player and size of club Inverness are doesn’t change and it will be very hard for us.”
