Loch Ness ready for historic first Scottish Cup adventure
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It is just a 120-mile jaunt down the road from their Fortrose base, but Shane Carling admits Saturday’s Scottish Cup debut for Loch Ness FC represents a huge leap into the unknown.
The North Caledonian League champions will make history, win or lose on Saturday, when they face Luncarty juniors just north of Perth.
A club that only entered the North Caledonian League a couple of years ago earned the right to star in Scottish football’s prime cup tournament by winning the title.
Eight more wins in the competition itself and a Hampden Park semi-final would be theirs, although Carling, understandably, is refusing to even look as far as the next round tie away to Newton Stewart in Dumfries.
Luncarty were promoted this year to the East of Scotland League, earning Scottish Cup qualification by winning a cup.
“I didn’t know anything about them until we were drawn together, but I’ve been given bits and pieces of info from friends who live down in Perth,” Carling stressed.
“I was going to go down and watch them on Saturday, but I decided against. You can’t really suss out a team at our level on one game alone. I don’t know how much they know about us, and we don’t know much about them. That is sometimes a good thing. A player can over think it if I try to tell them about particular threats. That puts a bit of pressure on the boys. We just need to go out and do what we’re good at, let them worry about us.
“As a team we’ll always create chances. That’s the good thing about Loch Ness – we’ve got goalscorers. We’ll work hard as a team front to back and see where it takes us.
“We believe we can go there and get a result, but it isn’t going to be easy.”
Loch Ness will be backed by a few dozen fans, with a 65-seater bus making the trip but not guaranteed to be full. Others will journey by car.
“We’ll have a wee support, but I’ve no idea what the home crowd will be like,” Carling said.
“It’s the Scottish Cup, so the boys will be nervous. They all know what it means to the club. I’ve just said to the players it doesn’t matter if we get beat, we’re there. That alone is a massive achievement.”
