Dalbeattie Star face a 500-mile round trip this weekend as they bid to keep their Scottish Cup dreams alive.
The Islecroft side played out a goalless draw against Highland League high-flyers Rothes last weekend meaning the two sides will have to do it all again in Moray on Saturday.
And awaiting the victors is a home tie against East Kilbride in the third round.
Star boss Ritchie Maxwell said: “It’s a long journey for us but the club have been really good. On Sunday we started arranging travel and overnight stays. We’ll go up tomorrow, stay close to Inverness and do the rest of the journey on Saturday morning. The boys appreciate not having to make the full journey in one day.
“I think Rothes will be seen as favourites now. They’ve come down here and got the draw so it’s us that’s got the additional travel this week. They’ll be confident they can do it at home but I obviously still believe we still have a great opportunity to progress.”
Star made a bright start with Lewis Todd and Dan Orsi going close but they had goalie Luke Holt to thank for keeping the scores level at the break after he did well to deny Gary Kerr.
And the on-loan Falkirk man was the hero again early in the second half when Rothes were awarded a penalty, Holt doing superbly well to save Alan Pollock’s spot-kick.
Maxwell said: “They had one opportunity in the first half from a mistake from us and Luke made a really good save. That and the penalty were probably the only two times he was called into action but when he was called upon he made two really good saves which have proved vital and kept us in the cup.
“We’d talked about the slow starts in the first round and I thought for the first 35 minutes we really dominated. We created a lot of good chances and maybe with a wee bit more composure or a bit of luck and we’d have taken one while we were on top. Unfortunately we were unable to convert any of them.
“There was a 10-minute spell just after half-time when we didn’t get out of the blocks when they got the penalty and then the pitch got really heavy and it turned into a battle. It filtered out and there were no real chances after 60 minutes or so due to the conditions. It was wet and windy and the pitch started to dig up.
“We’re disappointed we didn’t get the goal when we were on top but pleased with the majority of the performance.”
Saturday saw a second Star debut for Ryan McChesney who has returned to the club on loan from Glenafton until January. The club has also turned the loan deal of Queen of the South youngster Connor Potts into a permanent move.
Maxwell explained: “We’d spoken to Queens about Connor a few times and they did us a favour to help us a wee bit. He has signed permanently until the end of the season which has allowed us to sign Ryan back on loan.
“We’re delighted to have him back. He was straight into the team on Saturday and kept a clean sheet.”
