Ross Allan wants Wick Academy to make home advantage count in the Scottish Cup.
The Scorries tackle Midlands League side Lochee United in round one this weekend.
It will take the visitors around five hours to get to Wick and Allan reckons it’s unlikely they’ll have played on a pitch like Harmsworth Park before.
The 29-year-old defender said: “When I was watching the draw, all I was hoping for was a home draw.
“We need to make home advantage count, it’s never easy for teams coming to Wick and if they haven’t been before they’ll probably get a shock when they see the slope to the pitch.
“Hopefully we can make that count and get the win.”
Allan hopes Saturday’s tie can be the start of a run to remember for Wick in the Scottish Cup.
Wick Academy looking forward to Scottish Cup
In 2015-16 and 2016-17, the Caithness outfit reached round three, but in the years since they have struggled to make inroads in the national competition.
Allan added: “The Scottish Cup is always one players look forward to. We want to try to get through the rounds and get a decent draw.
“We haven’t gone far in the last few years, so hopefully we can change that this year and make a bit of progression.
“It’s been disappointing in the last couple of years, because previously we have got quite far in the competition.
“The manager said to us at the start of the season he wanted to do well in the cups.
“Then we were knocked out of the North of Scotland Cup in the first round, which wasn’t a good start.
“Hopefully we can do better on Saturday and get through to the next round.”
