When it comes to the Scottish Cup, the thought of the competition almost makes Hamilton Accies defender Matthew Shiels shudder.
But the 22-year-old former Rangers kid is hoping to change that this weekend when his side host Scottish Premiership side Ross County.
Shiels is in his second season at Accies and made his debut for the club in January 2022 - after a lengthy injury lay-off - when they were sent crashing out of the competition at the third round stage with a shock 1-0 defeat to West of Scotland League Premier side Auchinleck Talbot.
It goes down as one of the worst results in the club's history but Shiels is hoping they can be the shock troops on this occasion.
Having eased past Lowland League East Kilbride 4-0 in November to safely negotiate the third round this season, Accies now await Malky Mackay's Staggies, who come calling with the pressure on them to progress.
Shiels knows only too well the favourites often come a cropper in this competition and hopes to see Accies in the hat for Sunday's fifth roound draw.
He said: "I don't have the best of memories of the cup so far.
"My first game with Hamilton was getting put out of the cup by Auchinleck.
"That was my first game back from injury in 11 months and it was a horrible day so it can't get much worse than that.
"I'd rather forget about that quickly and hopefully we can create some better memories than Auchinleck.
"We know it will be a tough game. I've had Malky taking me for Scotland camps when I was younger so I know they will be a tough side.
"They are quite pacy up top and we know it will be a tough game.
"But we need to believe we can shock them. If you don't think that you've already lost the game. We are full of belief we can get the result."
Accies do go into the game on a high after ending a run of seven straight defeats in the league with a 1-0 win over Morton last weekend, while earlier that week they booked their place in the semi-finals of the SPFL Trust Trophy with a 3-2 victory over Clyde.
Shiels added: "It has been good after getting the win at the weekend. The mood has lifted a wee bit, as you'd expect, but we know we need to try and carry that on into the cup.
"We've got a good chance to get into a final in one cup and hopefully we can get a run in this one as well."
Asked if the pressure was off his side for a change with them taking a break from fighting a relegation battle, he added: "I'd say every game is high pressure.
"We want to go out and win the game just as much as Ross County do - if not more - but they are the Premiership side and will probably be expected to win.
"We are going in with the same belief we can win the game."
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