Dumbarton defender Morgyn Neill is hoping to use past experience of playing Aberdeen to help guide his side to a cup shock over the Dons this weekend – and has urged his Sons teammates to believe.
Jim Duffy’s side make the journey up to Pittodrie on Saturday afternoon for a fourth round Scottish Cup tie and it’s a venue that ‘Scoop’ has pleasant memories of after forcing the Premiership side to a replay last season in a surprise 1-1 draw while playing for Stenhousemuir.
The 23-year-old is all too aware of the task ahead, but knows that through hard work and good decision making on the day, cup upsets can happen.
He said: “It’s always going to be hard going up there.
“You’re going to be sitting in and defending for most of the match. If you’ve got a chance to break, you’ve got to take it.
“Clubs like Aberdeen have their full-backs as wingers and their wingers are almost up front, but if you have the right players and make the right decisions then these teams can be broken down.
“You’ve got to believe in yourself.
“You need to be well-disciplined and patient and need to believe that when you’ve got the ball you can keep it.
“It’s easy just to clear it but sometimes you’ve got to be confident.
“Joe McKee, Kyle Hutton and Stuart Carswell, our ball playing players, will be vital for us.”
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Neill continued: “We’ll need them to hold the ball for us and find the passes.
“It’s about how long we can go up there and frustrate Aberdeen and the home support.
“The longer we are able do that, then you never know what can happen in the cup.”
The gap between Scotland’s top flight and the lower leagues is widely accepted, but it was no clearer than at the weekend when Sons were training on a pitch deemed unplayable while Derek McInnes’ Aberdeen side were in Dubai.
Sons’ League One fixture against Clyde was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch before Duffy’s side went on to train on that very pitch later that afternoon while Aberdeen have spent the week at a warm weather training camp in the UAE.
But while the Dons have been enjoying that and the luxury of a winter break, Neill firmly believes that, come 3pm on Saturday, it’s all to play for.
He added: “They’ve been living it large over there getting to train in the heat and then probably spending time by the pool getting a tan whilst we’re trying to run against the wind in Dumbarton.
“That’s the luxury of being a full-time footballer, but it’s eleven against eleven on the day and hopefully we can catch them out.”
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