Airdrie boss Rhys McCabe admires what East Kilbride are doing in the Lowland League, but is eager to knock them out of the SPFL Trust Trophy (Image: SNS Group)

Airdrie boss Rhys McCabe admires East Kilbride, but wants to oust them from cup

McCabe likes what Mick Kennedy is doing at the Lowland League champions

by · Daily Record

Airdrie boss Rhys McCabe admits he has huge admiration for Saturday’s cup opponents East Kilbride – but that won’t stop him from trying to do the double over them.

Airdrie host Lowland League champions Kilby in the SPFL Trust Trophy fourth round on Saturday, having beat them 8-0 in the Premier Sports Cup group stages back in July.

East Kilbride’s 7-1 win at Berwick Rangers last weekend left them secocnd in the table, three points behind leaders Caledonian Braves, but with a game in hand.

Airdrie, meanwhile, drew 1-1 at home to Dunfermline, still looking for a second league win to take them off the foot of the Championship, and McCabe hopes to get a spur from Saturday’s cup tie at New Broomfield.

He said: “It will be a different look.

“It’s a wee bit of pressure off the league campaign, and a chance to go out and put on a good display.

Airdrie on Saturday drew 1-1 at home to Dunfermline, ending a run of three straight defeats (Image: SNS Group)

“We know they will be coming here with that defeat in the back of their minds, they’re doing well in their respective league, and they’re a difficult opposition.

“I have huge admiration for the way they’re trying to play, and [boss] Mick Kennedy and [assistant] Si Ferry are trying to do things very similar to ourselves.

“They have very similar beliefs, and I’m under no illusion that it’s going to be a tough game.

“Hopefully we can get a boost from this game. We’ll not try and look too far ahead. We’ll analyse the game and see where we can go, try to exploit their weaknesses, and vice-versa, and hopefully get a positive performance, a positive result, and then we’ll take it from there.”

East Kilbride boss Mick Kennedy will go to Airdrie hoping to fare better than their 8-0 Premier Sports Cup defeat (Image: SNS Group)

Striker Aaron Reid was taken off just after half-time on Saturday and replaced by Ben Wilson, but McCabe hopes he isn’t joining an already-lengthy injury list.

McCabe said: “Aaron just felt his hamstring, so I don’t know the severity of it and we’ll wait and see.

“The game was intense. The amount of energy and desire that both teams put into that game, it was 100 miles an hour, so we’ll have to assess that over the next 48 hours, see how they are.

“But it’s football, we seem to have a few of them at the minute.”

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