East Kilbride manager Chris Aitken says his side will relish the chance to play SPFL opposition in the Scottish Cup fourth round.
Kilby avoided Premiership teams in Monday night’s draw, as they were paired with League One side Peterhead.
Neil McLaughlin and Steven Saunders netted to give Kilby a 2-1 win over Dalbeattie Star, and Aitken was pleased with the result.
He said: “I told the players on Saturday that the main thing for us was getting in the hat and seeing what happened after that.
“We have Peterhead away and we will prepare right for it again. At this stage of the competition, the pressure is now off all of us.
“We are going away to an SPFL club, the pressure will be on them to win, so we can just go up there and enjoy it.
“With all the ties we have just watched unfold over the weekend, there’s going to be a shock. There will be one found in the fourth round.
“We hope people are able to turn around and say ‘there’s a shock – East Kilbride have beaten Peterhead up at Balmoor’.
“The park is very, very good. It’s magnificent. They will be able to go and play on a good surface and enjoy it. That’s the biggest thing. The players I have in my changing room should be embracing this match.
“The majority of them have played in the SPFL and some in the Premiership. They will want to go and put on a show. We want to show this is where we want to get to – so it’s up to us to show we can go and compete with a club like Peterhead.
“We will be ready for that game once it comes around.”
Aitken was pleased with the win over Dalbeattie Star, and said it was a tough third-round tie.
He said: “We dug in and there wasn’t a lot of great football on show. But there were two good teams competing and thankfully we were the ones who got ourselves in the next round.
“It would have been bitterly disappointing to go out at the third round stage. I’m just getting all my players back fit and we have been on a good run of form.
“That was the third time we have played Dalbeattie.
“They are a really good side. So the pleasing thing for me on Saturday was the way we adapted to the conditions.”
Follow Lanarkshire Live Sport on Twitter via @LanLiveSport, like us on Facebook or find us on Instagram for the latest sports news, pictures and video.
