Nairn County and Lossiemouth are looking for North of Scotland Cup progression to kickstart their season.
The sides clash at Station Park tonight in the first round of the competition.
In the Breedon Highland League the Wee County have taken no points from their first four games, with the Coasters picking up one point from five league outings.
Both clubs were also knocked out of the GPH Builders Merchants Highland League Cup at the weekend.
Nairn striker Conor Gethins said: “It’s been a frustrating start, we’ve had tough games, but we’re not firing on all cylinders at the minute.
“We’ve got a bad combination at the moment where we’re not scoring enough goals and we’re conceding too many goals.
“Having a cup run would be nice for the club, it gives the fans a bit of excitement and on our day in a one-off game we can beat anyone.
“We can outwork teams, we’ve got the firepower to beat teams, but we need to show that.”
Lossie midfielder Liam Archibald added: “Both of us are probably a little bit frustrated with our start to the season and are looking to kickstart our season properly.
“The North of Scotland Cup is a competition where every team in it probably feels they have a chance of winning it, so that makes it a big game.
“It’s one-off games and if you get through the first round you always feel you’ve got a chance of doing well.
“We were disappointed on Saturday (losing to Strathspey) so we’d like to bounce back.”
Can-Cans and Grantown Jags aim to build on victories
Elsewhere, Forres Mechanics manager Steven MacDonald is looking for consistency as his team take on Strathspey Thistle in the first round at Mosset Park.
The Can-Cans have won four games out of five in all competitions, the latest of which was Saturday’s League Cup success against Banks o’ Dee.
MacDonald said: “We’ve got to try to build on the good start we’ve made.
“This is another important game to see if we can build on our win against Banks o’ Dee.
“Good sides are consistent and that’s the challenge for us to try to develop that consistency.
“The North of Scotland Cup is very important, the league will be beyond us at the moment.
“But the cups give you an opportunity in one-off games and we showed on Saturday we can take those opportunities.”
Strathspey recorded their first win of the campaign against Lossie in the League Cup.
Boss Robert MacCormack is keen for the Grantown Jags to make inroads in another knockout competition.
He added: “The clean sheet at the weekend was excellent and I’ve said to the players if we can defend as well as that we’ll create chances in every game.
“We know how difficult it can be, but we’ve shown we can compete and we need to keep that level of performance up.
“The cups are important to us and getting through would breed confidence.
“It doesn’t matter what the game is winning is good for confidence and good for the club.”
The winner of Forres v Strathspey will take on the victor of Nairn v Lossiemouth in the quarter-finals next month.
