Video: Huntly could host Aberdeen in a dream Scottish Cup tie but manager Allan Hale won't let Dons talk shift his players' focus away from their second round tie at Dumbarton
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A lucrative Scottish Cup clash with Aberdeen is the big incentive for Huntly, once football returns from its January pause.
Manager Allan Hale won’t talk about it yet, but his Christie Park side is just 90 minutes away from a glamour clash against the Dons.
Watch Huntly's victory over Cumbernauld Colts on the Scottish Cup YouTube channel.
Huntly saw off Cumbernauld Colts in the Scottish Cup first round last Wednesday, to earn an away tie at League One Dumbarton, which was then postponed on Saturday.
The following day, the third round draw gave the winners of Huntly’s tie a home clash against Derek McInnes’ Aberdeen side.
Then another 24 hours later, with Hale preparing his squad for a rearranged trip to Dumbarton, news broke that all Scottish football below Championship level was being suspended for the rest of the month, to help stave off the spread of coronavirus.
Time will tell if play can be resumed in February, but Hale cannot even take his squad training, and has given all his players fitness programmes to follow over the next three weeks to keep them in shape for when the action returns.
On the possibility of hosting a Premiership big gun in the cup, Hale said: “We haven’t even spoken about Aberdeen since the draw was made, because we’re not in the third round.
“We are under no illusions as to how difficult it’s going to be for a mid to lower end Highland League side to go down to a League One side, and be expected to go and win the game.
“I don’t think anyone expects us to do that, but we will be as prepared as we can be for the game and the players will be determined to give it their best on the day, and the incentive is there for them.
“It’s an extremely difficult tie we’ve got against Dumbarton, and it would be naive and stupid of anyone at our club to be looking too far ahead.”
The Huntly manager believes it was the right call to put Highland League football in stasis, even if it hampers his own side in the mid of a Scottish Cup run.
“I think it’s the right decision, as frustrating as it is. Clubs have put in a power of work over the close season to adhere to all the requirements, and in the games we’ve travelled to, what the clubs have provided has been a safe environment.
“But with this new strain it seems to be affecting more people, and the numbers are worse than they were before we went into lockdown the last time. So all things considered it’s definitely the right thing to do to pause the season. From our own perspective, some of the players had raised some concerns about playing during this new lockdown, and the risk of taking that to work and family, particularly to anyone that’s ill.
“It takes the seed of doubt out of their minds, and it’s the right thing to do.
“The only thing now is to see if it lasts three weeks or beyond that, which is probably the thing that will happen. I wouldn’t expect it to be February when we return, but we don’t know, and we just need to play it by ear.”
