Dalbeattie Star are looking to pull off a Scottish Cup upset on Saturday.
The Lowland League basement boys come up against West of Scotland League champions Darvel in the second round at Islecroft on Saturday.
And the Ayrshire side bring a number of players with Scottish Premiership experience, including former Hibs striker Ross Caldwell and ex St Mirren and Ross County midfielder Ian McShane.
Star boss Eddie Warwick said: “It’s an extremely tough draw. We’re not under any illusions but we’re at home and last time we were at home we put in a great performance against Berwick.
“I think Darvel are of the same ilk - they have a lot of ex professionals in their team, guys who have hundreds of appearances in league football and far more money than we could imagine having.
“We’ll dust ourselves down, prepare properly and be ready for Darvel. We’ll give it our best shot and see where it takes us.
“Underdogs is maybe a statement but we’re not going to run scared, it’s only a game of football.
“It’s 11 guys v 11 guys and it’ll come down to who wants it more on the day.”
Star suffered a cup defeat on Saturday when South of Scotland League side Abbey Vale knocked them out of the SFA South Region Challenge Cup.
Craig Kerr put Vale in front after new Star goalie Martin Johnston had saved a penalty from Lewis McKenna before Andrew Caffrey’s second half equaliser took the game to extra-time.
Scott Ballantyne put Star in front only for David Adams’ goal to force penalties, Vale progressing after winning the shoot-out 5-3.
Despite the loss, Warwick wasn’t too down heartened with what he saw from his side.
He said: “Penalties is an absolute lottery - the best teams in the world can get beaten by the worst teams in the world on penalties.
“We started the game poorly, they got right at us with their physicality and tight pitch.
“We’d told the players it was going to be like that.
“We started to grow into it, changed the shape at half-time and we were excellent.
“It was difficult as it was a big, yellow wall in front of us.
“We must have had 20 or 30 corners. We went 2-1 ahead in extra-time and we hit the post. Their goalkeeper had at least three world class saves - one of them I don’t know how he saved.
“They were hanging on for dear life. We didn’t tire in extra-time but we got frustrated not being able to kill the game off. We made a bad mistake in the middle of the park, gave the ball away, we’ve not set up properly at a corner, they’ve scored and it’s penalties.
“I’m not being cheeky but my priority is the league. I’ve come in to maintain Lowland League status. I’m not underestimating the cups but I’m not going to get too down or disappointed either.”
Having recruited Ewan Gourlay and Myles Gaffney, Warwick has now made his third signing since being appointed last month by bringing in former Threave midfielder Adam Uphill.
He added: “I know him from my time at Queen of the South with the reserves and he’s gone away and played in the East and South. He’s come back to play.
“There’s a few other things in the pipeline but the catchment area of Dumfries is very small.
“The likelihood is any free agent sitting about will not be Lowland League standard.”
