(Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
St Mirren boss Jim Goodwin is preparing for a “tricky” clash with Kelty Hearts in the Scottish Cup this afternoon as the Buddies boss eyes a spot in the quarter-final draw.
Goodwin’s side have a pretty good record in the cups in recent years and the Irishman hailed the job done by rookie boss Kevin Thomson with the Maroon Machine this season.
“These are always tricky fixtures, ones that people expect you to just turn up and win comfortably,” the St Mirren boss said [Renfrewshire Live Sport].
“We know that’s not going to be the case. Kevin Thomson has done fantastically with that team in League Two.
“For me, they’re not really a League Two team in my mind. They’ve built a really good squad of players with a lot of ex-Premiership players in there.
“They’ve got good experience and quality and they can really cause us problems.
“We’ve had experience of that in the League Cup over the years when teams from leagues below can cause you major problems if you don’t apply yourselves properly.
“We’ll be favourites, deservedly so, but we have to make sure we do our jobs properly and get ourselves into the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup. That would be magnificent.”
While St Mirren are ready to face Kelty, the Fifers’ boss admits he has a plan as he looks to emulate their shock win over holders St Johnstone in the last round.
“We will go with a plan. I want the boys to believe that if they play to the plan and can play the way we know we can then even if we lose then I will take the defeat or not so good days on the chin.
“We are all in it together and we have to come up with a plan that gives us the chance to win any game. We could play out of our skins and we could still come up short. We have no given right to beat St Mirren, as a League Two team.”
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