East Fife’s injury problems have increased ahead of their trip to face Hearts, however manager Darren Young is staying positive.
Goalkeeper Thomas Cordery and striker Ross Mutch are the latest to be ruled out, leaving the Fifers with only 13 fit players, including 38-year-old Young himself.
He said: “It is like a game for the 1970s or 80s when you were only allowed two substitutes.
“I will be one of them as we have seven players missing but there is no point in focusing on that ahead of a hard game in Edinburgh.
“We have to focus on what we are good at.”
What the Bayview men have been good at in their Betfred Cup games has been defending.
Young said: “We have shown that we are a good side defensively in our games against Peterhead and Dunfermline.
“We made one mistake at Balmoor that was punished but everything else has been strong in that department.
“Dunfermline put us under a lot of pressure in midweek but we kept a clean sheet and we will need that strength again at Hearts. We will need more as a team going forward once the league season starts however for this game we will look for our defence to continue being as strong as it has been.”
“It will be difficult for us but we will give it a go and see where we end up.”
The one bit of good squad news that Young had is the addition of summer signing Kieran Millar after suspension, however Cordery and Mutch have joined Chris Kane, Mark Lamont, Jonathan Page, Kyle Wilkie and Kevin Smith on the sidelines.
