KEVIN THOMSON will send his Kelty Hearts team out to “have a real go” at St Mirren in front of “massive backing” this weekend.
The League Two leaders are in the fifth round of the Scottish Cup for the first time in their history and take on the Buddies – three time winners of the competition and who currently sit ninth in the top flight – in Paisley on Saturday.
The club have put on free buses to take fans to the tie, who will hope to see them knock out a second Premiership side following their heroic win over holders St Johnstone in last month’s fourth round, and Thomson has vowed that they will not sit back and defend.
“We’ll respect St Mirren because obviously they’re a Premier League (Premiership) team,” he said after the 4-0 win over Elgin City at the weekend; with Alfredo Agyeman scoring twice, and Kallum Higginbotham and Michael Tidser also on the scoresheet.
“We’ll be massive underdogs but, at the same time, I ain’t done anything for making up the numbers. We will work hard this week with a game plan to try and cause St Mirren some problems, but we’re under no illusion how difficult it will be.
“We’re going to have to ride our luck, we’re going to need to defend well, we’re going to need them having a bad day and us having a good day, but, at the same time, I’m sure we’ll have massive backing from the travelling support.
“The club gesture to put on buses is second to none. It’s different class that, a real touch of class. I think it’s justifiable for us to go there, roll our sleeves up and have a real go.”
Kelty will have buoyed by a second successive victory – which have arrived after one in their four league games prior – that keeps them 10 points clear of Forfar Athletic at the top of League Two.
“We’ve challenged the players, me, Geordie (Kevin McDonald, assistant manager) and Ryan (McGurk, coach), all the staff, that we’ve underachieved a wee bit recently (with our) performance level,” Thomson continued.
“I thought we were worthy winners and I thought some of the play we played was superb. I thought we probably could’ve had two or three more, without sounding disrespectful to Elgin. They probably could’ve nicked one or two here or there, but I thought overall, the performance level, which we demanded off the players before the game, was second to none.”
