Graeme Smith left Brechin’s last training session before today’s Scottish Cup match with the words of his manager ringing in his ears….”remember we’re playing at Airdrie!”
The keeper found himself in the national spotlight for turning up at Stenhousemuir last Saturday, when City’s game was at Glebe Park.
But Darren Dods has made absolutely sure that lightining won’t strike twice.
“He’s been told, ‘make sure it’s Airdrie’,” the Brechin boss joked.
“I must admit it was a new one on me. I’ve known plenty of lads being late in the past but never going to the wrong ground.
“It was a good job it was Stenhousemuir, because he still got to the game in enough time. So it wasn’t an issue in the end.
“It wasn’t until after the game that he realised everybody across the country was talking about it.
“The boys have had a good laugh about it with him this week, but he’ll definitely be at Airdrie.”
One man who won’t be at Airdrie is defender David Bates, who has been recalled to cover an injury crisis at Raith Rovers.
The deal was due to finish in mid-December, and Dods may look to revive it in January.
The good news is that Willie Dyer’s sending off last week won’t keep him out of today’s cup game against familiar opposition.
“We obviously know a lot about each other,” Dods said.
“We keep getting cup draws with teams in our own league.
“They have been close games with Airdrie this season and hopefully it will be our turn to edge it and get through to the next round.”
Dods believes there were positives to take from last weekend’s narrow defeat.
He explained: “We hit the bar, hit the post and were on top at 1-1. The number of chances we created made it like night and day compared to the Cowdenbeath game. That was really encouraging.”