STEVIE CRAWFORD says his Rosyth stars are looking forward to going head-to-head with Heriot-Watt University as they aim to take the club into a first cup final in more than a decade.
The East of Scotland League, First Division pair meet in the semi-finals of the Alex Jack Cup on Saturday, with the winners set to meet Arniston Rangers or Bo'ness Athletic, in the final.
Rosyth, who are hopeful that they could be ready to move to their new home at Pitreavie by the time the final is played on November 26, have seen off Edinburgh South, Livingston United and Kirkcaldy and Dysart en-route to the last four.
The club said that they haven't appeared at this stage of a cup competition in around 15 years, and their last appearance in a final came in the 2008/09 season, when they reached the showpiece of the Fife and Lothians Cup whilst in the ranks of junior football.
Their last cup trophy win came in 2004, in the Fife Cup, and to have a chance of going all the way in the Alex Jack Cup they'll need to turn the tables on a Heriot-Watt side that won their last meeting, in the league, 6-0 in August.
That proved to Greig Denham's last match in charge of Rosyth, after which Crawford took over at his hometown club, and he says it's a challenge his players are up for.
"It will be a tough game but one we will train towards to see if we can get into the final," he told Press Sport this week.
"I watched Heriot-Watt play Tynecastle a couple of weeks ago and they are a possession-based team that like to build through the pitch playing passing football. I can't see that changing, so we have to be organised out of possession, but also be energetic and thoughtful when we are attacking them.
"I know the players are looking forward to it, which is always a good thing. If we compete and play as a team like we did against Leith and St Andrews recently (matches Rosyth won 5-1 and 4-1 respectively) then we will give ourselves a good chance to get to the final."
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Rosyth chairman, Russell Craig, commented: "We're under no illusion that it will be a hard game. Saturday there (Rosyth's loss to Kirkcaldy and Dysart) showed that our league is a hard league.
"The last time we played at Heriot-Watt, it was obviously Greig's last game. We've got Stevie in now, a couple of additions in, and a couple back through injury.
"We just have to go there and give a good account of ourselves. When we're on fire, we can compete with anyone. We'll be prepped for it, but we're definitely not getting ahead of ourselves. We'll treat Saturday as it comes."
The game, which will be played at Riccarton, kicks off at 2.30pm.
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