Elgin City's Scottish Cup preparations hit the skids when manager Gavin Price and members of his squad had to spend the night in their cars this week on the way back from training.
But Price is hopeful the League Two outfit can still cause an upset against Hibs this weekend to stay on the road to Hampden.
The Black and Whites train once a week in Aviemore and after putting their finishing touches to their plans for Easter Road were caught in travel chaos on Wednesday night.
Price and the club’s Glasgow-based players had set off south when they became stranded on the A9, which had been closed because of a crash. When the road was eventually reopened, Price reached home at 5.30 am yesterday and the others finally arrived in Glasgow an hour later.
It was hardly an ideal way to warm-up for the massive task that awaits them in the capital tomorrow, but Price - who knocked Hibs out of the cup as a player with Stirling Albion after a replay in 1999 - is remaining upbeat ahead of the tie.
He said: “I’m not too bad, I live in Aberfeldy, but the Glasgow ones didn’t get home until half past six in the morning. It’s already a long way for the Glasgow boys to come, it’s a big commitment from them, so it wasn’t ideal.
“The astroturf was snowed up when we were there as well, but we managed to do something. It wasn’t the perfect preparation. There’s plenty of time for everyone to recover before Saturday, but it wasn’t the best.
“But we’re looking forward to it. It’s a good day for the club at Easter Road. The financial side of it is important for the club but it’s also a good day out for the players and the supporters.
“Hopefully we can go and enjoy the occasion, but at the same time be mindful that it’s a game of football and the aim is still to try to stay in the competition.
“Recent results in the league haven’t been the best but it’s a chance to regroup a wee bit and refocus and get a bit of form and confidence back. Hopefully it’s a positive distraction.
“Players will want to perform and we want to give a good account of ourselves. We want to put a bit of pressure on Hibs and maybe cause an upset. We’re certainly not just going for a day out, we’re going there to try to progress.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel