The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Brechin hope for cup boost in league fortunes
Brechin head north for the second time in quick succession, hoping their cup success gives them a boost in the league, writes Ian Roache.
City travel to Inverness tonight to take on an in-form Caley Thistle in the Championship just a few days after beating Buckie Thistle 3-2 in the William Hill Scottish Cup third round.
Ideally, confidence would flow from one fixture to the other but boss Darren Dods appreciates the opposition will be a bit tougher this evening.
“Obviously, this is a challenging fixture because Inverness are on a really good run at the moment and have gone something like 400 minutes without conceding a goal and have set a club record for clean sheets,” said Dods.
“However, our dressing room was a noisy and happy one after that cup win in Buckie, so hopefully we can carry some confidence into this match.
“We got off to the worst possible start against Buckie but the lads dug in and got a great result in the end. So it should be a huge boost for the players and now we are looking for that first league win
“Inverness will be challenging for promotion eventually but if we can delay that for a while that will be fine by me.”
On-loan Aberdeen striker Connor McLellan returns for Brechin after not playing in the cup, while Ryan McGeever and Andy Jackson are still out injured.
Meanwhile, ICT manager John Robertson is looking for his side to announce themselves as promotion contenders before hosting Championship title-chasers St Mirren on Saturday.
Robertson said: “This is a really important week for us as if we can get the right result against Brechin then we are edging really close to the promotionchasing clubs ahead of facing St Mirren at our place.
“As a team we have made a lot of progress since the season started, particularly in the defensive side of our game. We want to keep that progress going and score a few more goals.”