LEE Bailey, the Brechin City striker, has come up against some of the best defenders in Scottish football during his 11 years in the game.

Willie Miller, Craig Levein and Terry Butcher are just three of the internationalists the 28-year-old has played against, and because of that he has no fears about coming up against the

foreign legion who will make up the nucleus of the Rangers defence tomorrow.

Despite that, the man who played just one game in Scotland's top league - for Hibs against Aberdeen at Easter Road nine years ago - is under no

illusions that his team will be indulging in damage limitation when they take the field in the third round Scottish Cup tie.

Bailey, who scored four goals in the last round against Coldstream, used a tongue-in-cheek logic yesterday to suggest that keeping Dick Advocaat's side to five would be a big success for the part-time Third Division side.

''Celtic went to Ibrox and lost 5-1 and if we keep it to under five against a team like Rangers it will be outstanding,'' said Bailey.

''There is no pressure on us as Rangers are a multi-million pound football team. It's a daunting task but it's more about the performance than the scoreline and we will want to be brave, defend properly and not just kick the ball anywhere.''

The striker played for Meadowbank Thistle against Celtic in front of 30,000 people at Hampden earlier in his career, and on that day his team spent most of the time defending, a pattern he fully expects to be repeated against Rangers.

Interest in the game in the north-east is so big that 2,000 tickets for the Brechin end have already been sold, and the importance of the fixture even seems to be getting to the staff at Glebe Park. According to Bailey, one of the catering staff at the club burst into tears when he realised they had drawn Rangers as he realised it was the biggest game in the

history of the club.

Although the match has

captured the interest of Brechin followers, there are indications that Rangers supporters may not be too keen to watch their team in action against a side they should beat easily.

Ticket sales are reported to be slow for the game, although

Bailey doesn't really feel that will bother his team-mates very much.

He makes the point that, when you usually play in front of 300 or 400 supporters, the fact that at least 20,000 people turn up at such a magnificent stadium as Ibrox will still make it a very

special day for all of the Brechin players.

''Possibly the way Celtic's season has turned out anybody they play would be watched by around 60,000 people, but for a club the size of Brechin even if we get 20,000 at Ibrox the revenue from that will keep us going for the next couple of seasons,'' he said.

Unlike the majority of clubs who draw premier league outfits, Brechin don't have too many young players who will be overawed by the occasion. Despite that, the lifestyles between the players is hugely different, a fact not lost on Bailey.

He is an Edinburgh driving instructor who will finish with his last client at eight o'clock tonight, and recently some of the people he has been instructing have not had their minds firmly on their tuition.

A few teenage boy pupils have turned their head to wish him all the best, which has been met with a stern rebuke and a request for them to watch the road.

Tomorrow's game will be a highlight for Bailey, who made it clear he has no regrets about not sustaining his early promise shown at Easter Road during a career which took him to Meadowbank Thistle just before they became Meadowbank, then Queen of the South, before he signed for Brechin.

''I played once for Hibs in the Premier League under Alex Miller when I was 19 and he then went and signed Darren Jackson and let me go because he thought I was too small to play at the top level.

''As it turned out, I never played in the Premier League again, so he must have been right.

''Despite that, you always want to keep playing against the best, and although Amoruso gets a lot of stick in the papers he is an excellent player.

''I have played against Levein, Miller, Butcher and Tony Mowbray during my career and you can learn from their tactical awareness and fitness, and I expect the same sort of thing from the Rangers players.''