St Andrews United manager Robbie Raeside assesses tricky looking cup trip

Saints, who themselves have made a fine start to this season’s East of Scotland League first division – they sit second with 21 points from eight games – will start as favourites to see off the North Ayrshire outfit.

"I think the journey itself always makes it tricky,” Raeside, 51, told the Herald and Citizen.

“The boys will be getting up at the crack of dawn on Saturday and we’ll be leaving just after 8am. We’ll be stopping for breakfast in Glasgow on the way down.

"It will be a difficult game. A team that is at the top of any league are difficult to play against.

"They’ll be confident but by coincidence they actually played Dundee Downfield (a 3-2 home Scottish Junior Cup second round defeat for Ardrossan) last Saturday and I know a couple of the Dundee Downfield guys who I have spoken to, to get a wee bit of intel.

"We’re going down there confident in our abilities but we can’t take them lightly.

"If the players’ attitude is correct and they play to their abilities, we’ll go through, I’ve every confidence in that.”

Raeside’s men didn’t have a fixture last Saturday as their scheduled home league game against Blackburn United was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.

He said: “There was a pitch inspection on Saturday morning by the referee and the game was put off.

"The pitch was already heavy and the rain was chucking it down.

"There was water lying on the pitch which is remarkable for our place.

"It’s rare for us to get a postponement like that.

"The game being off was a bit of a blow because – on the back of a couple of massive wins against Auchinleck and Whitburn – you want to keep momentum going.

"And I was keen to do that but listen, you can’t help these things.

"Luckily for us we didn’t really lose ground. I know that Dunipace (now third with 19 points from nine fixtures) played because they’ve got an astroturf pitch but everybody else had games off.

"It’s a long, hard season so I gave the boys the weekend off just to give them a chance to recharge their batteries.

"We’ve got three games in a week coming up so we’ve got a big week ahead of us.”

Just three days after the Ardrossan tie, United visit Rosyth on league duty next Wednesday night, kick-off 7.30pm, before a league visit to Leith Athletic on Saturday, October 21, kick-off 2.30pm.

Then there’s the huge Scottish Cup second round trip to face Albion Rovers on Saturday, October 28, kick-off 3pm.

"These are massive games,” Raeside said. “You’ve just got to take them one at a time and continue to really establish ourselves at the top end of the league.

"And it’s an opportunity to really progress and for the players to make a real name for themselves in the cup competitions. We’re really looking forward to them all.”