Mcdonaugh gets down to business

New Edinburgh City manager James Mcdonaugh gets down to work quickly with a Scottish Cup second round tie against League 2 rivals Stenhousemuir at Ainslie Park tonight.

The former Hibs youth coach and Falkirk assistant manager said: “It is a really quick introduction to football at this level. I met the squad for the first time on Tuesday night and had a really high-tempo training session. We then had a lighter session on Thursday with this game in mind.

“It is not as much preparation as I would have liked to face a team who are bang in form but I cannot wait to get started. I have been gathering in as much information as possible on Stenhousemuir, which has not been too difficult as they defeated City 3-0 less than a fortnight ago.”

On-loan Hibs players Andrew Blake, Sean Mackie and Lewis Allan have all been given permission to play along with Dundee’s Ian Smith, with only Zak Karadachki ruled out through injury.

Stenhousemuir manager Brown Ferguson reckons that his side’s league success over their hosts does not give them the upper hand tonight.

“The final scoreline looks very impressive but that game was really tight for the first hour,” Ferguson said. “Once we made the breakthrough Edinburgh City opened up and we exploited that so I am not thinking that we will repeat that success easily. This will be a really tough match.”

Stenhousemuir have concerns over Nathan Blockley and Martin Scott who are both carrying knocks.