Dumbarton manager Stevie Aitken says that he is proud to be the man that has lead Sons to their first major cup final in 121 years.

His side face Inverness Caley Thistle on Saturday in the final of the Irn-Bru Cup at McDiarmid Park in Perth, home of St Johnstone.

And the Sons boss hopes to make the most of assistant Ian Durrant’s contacts ahead of the big day.

He said: “I’m proud that we’re in the final.

“I’m excited and nervous but at the same time we want to go and try win it.

“We know Inverness will be favourites but we’ll go with a game plan and travel in confidence.

“It’ll be a nervous occasion but it’s all about who copes well on the day.

“A lot of players don’t play in finals but we do have experience too.

“In Ian Durrant we’ve got someone who can help the players because he’s played in so many finals, European games and played with his country.

“I’ve no doubt we’ll use that as much as we can this week.

“He’s got good contacts in Walter Smith and Ally McCoist so we’ll do what we need to do and always look for advice.

“We’ll not put extra pressure on the players.”

It will be a race against time, however, for star man Dimitris Froxylias to make the game along with Liam Burt.

The two are on international duty, Froxylias with Cyprus and Burt with Scotland Under-21s, with both set to take part in games on Friday night.

The Cyrpiots take on Montenegro in a friendly, while the young Scots take on Andorra.

Aitken admits, however, that all things going well, both will be in the squad for Saturday.

He said: “Liam Burt and Dimitris Froxylias will be away with their countries.

“They’ll fly back on Saturday morning so we’ll get them picked up at the airport and get them to the game.

“But nobody is daft enough to think that it’s ideal preparation to play in an international fixture one day then a cup final the next. “We need a lot of luck because we need flights to go on time so fingers crossed they make it back on time before we even make a decision about whether they play or not.

“We want the two of them. There’s a lot of players missing so we need them.

“The two of them will be in the squad if everything goes to plan.

“If you miss one flight then it has a knock on effect.

“If you get a day of snow like this week then the airports shut down. There’s a lot riding on it.”

Saturday’s opponents are just four points ahead of Dumbarton in the league, but Aitken doesn’t think that the final will have an impact on the remainder of the season as Sons bid to beat the drop once more.

He said: “If we win the cup then we’ll enjoy it and what happens in the rest of the season happens.

“At the moment we’ll enjoy the cup final and hopefully we’ll be having a party on Saturday night in Dumbarton.”