Danny Lennon, the Alloa manager, and Dick Campbell, his Forfar counterpart, are trying to outfox each other ahead of the second leg of the Championship play-off final tomorrow, with both claiming that the other is under the most pressure.
The Loons travel to Recreation Park protecting a 3-1 lead from Wednesday's first leg at Station Park. However, two years ago, the Angus side held the same advantage from the first leg when they travelled to Dunfermline in a play-off semi-final second leg and then took the lead before capitulating to a 6-1 defeat.
Lennon is hoping that afternoon may prey on Forfar minds. "One of the reasons that we all love football is that it can throw up the unexpected," he said. "You look at our score-line from the other night and then look for ties that have been turned round from the same position and one of them involved Forfar.
"The fact it has happened so recently will give our players a bit of a boost and possibly weigh on their minds as their team in midweek was very similar to that one. I am obviously hoping that history repeats itself."
Lennon is confident his team can salvage the tie and stay in the Championship for a third consecutive season. "There was little between the teams, but they were stronger than us in both boxes," he said. "We have to do better in this game and we have every intention to do so. I know we have players that can hurt Forfar.
"We will look to attack them from the off but I know that talk is cheap and that we need to do our talking on the pitch."
The Wasps could be boosted by the return to fitness of defensive duo Darryl Meggatt and Michael Doyle.
Forfar manager Campbell, whose team are trying to make it to the second tier for the first time since 1992, is unfazed by what he sees as Lennon's attempts at mind games.
He said: "I was reading that Danny was saying about the game a couple of years ago and that I have a choice to make about whether I have to sit in or go for another win. It is a piece of reverse psychology from him trying to put pressure on us and I am not going to get fooled by it.
"We will go out and play in the same manner that we did in the first leg. It was good enough for us to win that game and hopefully it will be good enough for us to win this game. I would say to Danny that he has more decisions to think about than me as he has to decide whether to go for it from the first minute or much later on."
Forfar skipper Gavin Swankie is suspended, so Dale Hilson is likely to take his place. Full-back Mark Baxter continues to be ruled out with an ankle injury.
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