William Hill Scottish Cup

The ‘Loons’ head north this Saturday to face Highland League Formartine United in the third round of the William Hill Scottish Cup.

This will be the first ever competitive fixture between the clubs, although we drew 1-1 in a pre-season friendly here at Station Park back in early July.

It will not however be the first time that the Athies have played at the well appointed North Lodge Park in the village of Pitmedden as we defeated Aberdeen’s Under 20 side at the venue in last season’s Irn Bru Cup.

Formartine are at present sitting seventh in the Highland league, thirteen points adrift of leaders Cove Rangers following their 3-1 defeat at Inverurie on Saturday past.

One thing  however is for certain.   Jim Weir and his squad will not be taking Paul Lawson’s team lightly.   Jim has already had our opponents watched on numerous occasions in recent weeks.

Hopefully a reasonable travelling support will make the trip north to sample the unique flavour of the Scottish Cup.

Admission prices are £9 for adults, £5 concessions.

For those not familiar with Pitmedden it lies midway between Old Meldrum and Ellon and is roughly sixteen miles from the centre of Aberdeen.   It can be accessed from Aberdeen on a couple of routes.

For those travelling by car, remember and take the road works on the A90 north of Stonehaven into consideration and of course getting across Aberdeen on a Saturday can prove interesting, especially as the ‘Dons’ are also at home to Motherwell into the bargain.

A full preview of the tie will be posted on the club’s social media outlets on Thursday of this week.