A familiar foe stands between Kelty Hearts and a place in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup this weekend as they meet an opponent for a THIRD time in tournament competition this season.

Michael Tidser's SPFL League One leaders will make the long trip north to play Elgin City, who play in the tier below, as they aim to go beyond round three for the third time in four seasons.

The match at Borough Briggs comes after the clubs met in both the Premier Sports Cup and SPFL Trust Trophy earlier this season.

The 'Maroon Machine' travelled to Moray in the group stage of the former in July, which ended in a 1-1 draw before Elgin claimed a bonus point with a 5-4 penalty shoot-out win, before Kelty were 3-1 victors at New Central Park two months later in the latter competition.

Tidser's outfit, who saw their top of the table clash with Arbroath at the weekend fall victim to Storm Bert, are unbeaten in three matches, winning their last two, whilst their opponents sit proudly at the League Two summit.

Elgin are unbeaten at home in the league, and Premiership Hibernian are the only side so far to leave Borough Briggs with a victory so far this season, in the Premier Sports Cup.

The game marks another long journeys in November for Kelty, who have already made 272 and 202 mile round-trips to Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Annan Athletic respectively, with another 308 set to be added on Saturday.

Speaking to Press Sport after the draw was made, Kelty assistant manager, Kevin McDonald, said: "Obviously the lads work during the week, and then they've got to think about the long Saturday, where they maybe don't get home until eight, nine o'clock, instead of being in the house for six.

"It definitely affects you and Elgin will be pleased to see us again in the Scottish, because we've drew them in every cup competition so far, so we'll see them again.

"Of all the teams you could've got! You've already been up there once, they've been to Kelty, and then you have to go back up there again. They're not even in our league, and we'll have played them three times.

"It's nice not to play another team in your league because you're playing each other that many times anyway so, although it's Elgin away, it's a plus that it's not a team from your league again.

"I don't think we've had much luck with draws in previous years either, to be honest. We've always seemed to bump into the difficult ones, like last year, Hamilton away was in the first round for us. We managed to get through that, and then we got Ayr United (which Kelty lost 3-0).

"If we can get through Elgin, we'll take a nice draw to give us every chance of getting a cup run."