Saturday sees us play in the William Hill Scottish Cup after a two year absence, where we face fellow East of Scotland side Hawick Royal Albert at Albert Park. This is a couple of rounds earlier than the Albert have been used to entering, due to their relegation from the Lowland League last season (where LL teams enter at round one, with the winners and second placed LL teams entering round two).
Hawick have seen a change in personnel over the summer, with Paul McGovern replacing Craig Tully in the management hotseat. Like us, they have had three competitive games so far this season in the Qualifying Leagues. They picked up their first positive result last Saturday after drawing with Arniston Rangers, following defeat from Blackburn Utd & Tranent in their other two previous QL games, which mean they don't qualify to the knockout stages. Also like us, Hawick don't have too far back to look to a memorable Scottish Cup run. Two seasons ago when we managed to get to the fourth round having played seven games to get to that stage, Hawick managed to get to round three - with wins over Civil Service Strollers and a Josh Morris hat trick ensuring they beat League 2 side Berwick Rangers.
We have safely negotiated the Qualifying League section, finishing in top spot after three wins, scoring seventeen goals and conceding just the one in the process. There were five players unavailable in Saturday's victory over Inverkeithing Hillfield Swifts due to injury/holidays so the manager will be hopeful to welcome some of them back into the squad for this weekend's important fixture.
Both teams are already aware of their potential opponents in the second preliminary round and will face the winner of EoS side Tynecastle or Scottish Amateur Cup winners Shortlees AFC at home on September 1st.