East Fife manager Gary Naysmith has warned his players that they cannot be fooled by Edinburgh City’s place at the foot of senior Scottish football.
The sides meet at Bayview in the Scottish Cup this afternoon and Naysmith believes that League Two must be full of very good teams if the Meadowbank men are sitting in 10th place.
The former Scotland defender explained: “When the draw was made we knew that we would be facing the winners of a replay between Forfar and Edinburgh City. I went to Station Park to watch it and I was impressed.
“If Edinburgh City are the worst team in their league then there must be a lot of very good teams playing at that level. They won that night and have now gone six games without defeat. They are bang in form.”
Despite not securing a win in seven games, the Fifers are the favourites to go through.
Naysmith added: “We are in a higher league, playing at home and people will expect us to win. We need to handle the expectations that this is a game we are expected to win.
“We are not on a good run just now but I cannot fault the players for the effort they are putting in.
“If they put that same level of effort in and cut out the mistakes that have cost us goals recently then we can progress.”
On-loan St Johnstone goalkeeper Mark Hurst has not been given permission to play, however Perth defender Jason Kerr is included. Chris Kane and Scott Robinson return.
