Jim Paterson believes East Kilbride have a huge opportunity to reach the Scottish Cup last 16 for a second time after being drawn at home to BSC Glasgow in round four.
The Kilby caretaker boss guided the side to a 4-0 win away to Formartine United on Saturday and had hoped of landing a glamour tie as a reward.
But in Sunday’s fourth round draw, Kilby avoided a rematch of their 2016 tie with Celtic, Steven Gerrard’s Rangers and the rest of the Scottish Premiership sides to be paired with their Lowland League rivals.
Paterson said: “We didn’t get a big name tie, but there’s still a huge carrot there by getting through to the next round.
“You could say we will have an even better chance of getting a big team if we get past this next game.
“We’ve got a very winnable game and BSC Glasgow will be saying the same thing.
“BSC are a tough team. We’ve played them once already this season and it ended up a [1-1]draw, so it will be close.
“Both teams will know what they are up against.”
Whether Paterson will be the man leading them into that game in January remains unclear.
Paterson has won all three of his games in caretaker charge, scoring seven goals without conceding.
However, he said he has had no contact with the Kilby board in the aftermath of Saturday’s win, which keeps their season alive following a dismal league title defence under Stuart Malcolm.
The likes of former Dumbarton boss Stevie Aitken and ex-Rangers star Ian Durrant have been linked to the role, but there’s been no further update from EK this week regarding their search for a new boss.
“There’s been absolutely no change in terms of my position,” said Paterson.
“I haven’t spoken to the board any further, but we’ve got another cup game coming up this weekend and I will use that to get the squad’s fitness up.
Hometown hero Ally McCoist for the East Kilbride job? @officialEKFC fans on who they’d like to see in charge at K-Park... pic.twitter.com/QC8pc6Ea6G
— Paul Thomson (@PaulThomsonEK) November 17, 2019
“I’m trying to reinstill confidence in the players and the fact we are keeping clean sheets, scoring goals and winning games, the boys are clearly buying into what I’m trying to do.
“They are playing with a smile on their faces again and enjoying it, so I want to keep that going.”
BSC Glasgow pulled off the shock of the round at the weekend when they came from 3-1 down to beat League One East Fife, having reached the last 32 for the first time in their history.
But East Kilbride have experience at this stage, having faced Inverness last season and beaten Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale to reach the fifth round in 2016.
That set up their famous clash with Celtic and Kilby’s chances of securing another tie with one of Scottish football’s big guns will strengthen if they see off BSC, so Paterson is expecting an edgy contest when the sides meet at K-Park on January 18.
He added: “I’m sure it will be a very nervy tie.
“No team will want to make a mistake because we will both be determined to get the last 16.
“BSC’s result at East Fife was incredible. I didn’t realise how good it was at first and then I saw they’d come back from 3-1 down to win, so that’s a huge result.”
On Saturday East Kilbride travel to Haddington Athletic in the third round of the East of Scotland Qualifying Cup.
