Perth Saints Welcome Brechin City To Town

22 March 2011 17:00
Different weather, different venue but will there be a different result? St Johnstone had to make do with a draw in their first attempt to beat Brechin City in the quarter finals of the Scottish Cup. Now that manager Derek McInnes has home advantage, he hopes this will make all the difference to the result tonight. The winners of tonight's tie will meet either Dundee United or Motherwell at Hampden on Saturday 16 April in the first Scottish Cup semi-final. McInnes is well aware of how tough a task they face against the Irn-Bru Second Division side after the teams fought out a 2-2 draw at the first time of asking. He also knows all the pressure will be on his side again.   The Saints' manager said: "We will be favourites and I can understand that. But we will be looking to progress and we have done well at home lately with some decent performances. We have been strong at home since the turn of the year and hopefully that can help our cause to get into a semi-final. Hopefully we can deliver a performance we know we are capable of. If we reach the levels we were playing at in the last few home games, I would be happy with that. We will be playing in less treacherous conditions than we did in the first game. Both sets of players have to be commended for putting on a game in the first leg. I think a draw was probably about right over the piece and both teams have earned the right to have another go at each other. We are delighted we are at home. There is an opportunity for us to try to get to a semi-final and hopefully we can take that opportunity."  Brechin manager Jim Weir has injury worries over the fitness of Gerry McLachlan and Jamie Redman, although Kevin Byers should be available after missing out against Alloa at the weekend. Weir is hoping he will be able to persuade Aberdeen manager Craig Brown to allow on-loan Dons youngster Mitchel Megginson to play a part in the game. Weir said: "I will give the guys to the last minute to prove themselves as this is a massive game and I want our strongest team out to have any chance of an upset. It is our first ever game live on TV and there is also a semi-final berth at stake, so it is huge for us."

Source: FOOTYMAD