Kirkintilloch Rob Roy ready for Scottish Junior Cup test against Thornton Hibs

Rabs have reached the last eight of the tournament in each of the last two seasons.

However after a summer of transition and a sluggish start to the season expectations aren’t perhaps as high this time round.

But that doesn’t lessen manager Stewart Maxwell’s desire for his side to once again go deep into the junior game’s Blue Riband competition.

He said: “I’ve got to raise that expectation, or else I’m not doing my job right.

“The last couple of years we’ve been renowned for playing great attacking cup football and we’ve proved that. We’ve taken big scalps and been involved in exciting games which will go down in the history of the club.

“But we’ve had the other end of it. Last year at Wishaw we just never turned up.

“But that’s cup football and why you never take anything for granted.

“I want it so much for the supporters, to get to the semi-finals or the final. I’ve been to a couple of semi-finals with Rob Roy as a player and know how much it means to the supporters, how much it brings the town out.

“We’re probably not expected to do anything this year, we’ve had a lot of changes and a slow start to the season.

“We’re under the radar because nobody’s talking about Rob Roy so we’ll take it as it comes and concentrate on one game at a time.”