East Kilbride boss Mick Kennedy insists he would rather face a League Two side than Lowland rivals Tranent, such is the task facing his side in the Scottish Cup this weekend.

Kilby travel to Tranent on Saturday for a second round clash and while Kennedy’s side will be favourites as unbeaten league leaders in the fifth tier, he believes it is the toughest tie they could have been handed.

The East Lothian side are fourth in the league and Kennedy said: “This is the tie of the round for me, so we probably couldn’t have been given a more difficult tie.

“There are places in League Two I’d rather go to than Tranent.

“It is a really difficult place to go.

“Tranent have come under the radar a wee bit, maybe because of the big changes at East Kilbride with a new management team and players coming in.

“So their recruitment has gone a wee bit unnoticed, but they have recruited a lot of experienced players over the summer from League Two – and I’d say they have a lot more experience than we have brought in.

“They have got a really strong group and I have no doubt they will be up there challenging to win the league as well.

“The surface is great at Tranent but it is tight, so that brings its own complexities for us because we like to be quite expansive.

“We just have to go and manage the environment.

“We will be prepared and go there with a lot of belief we can get into the next round. If you are not at it on the day, you can get found out.”

Kilby will be looking to reach round three, where sides from the Scottish Championship and League One enter the competition. Having drawn Celtic in the last 16 in 2016, fans are well aware of the rewards a run in the competition can bring.

Kennedy caused a few upsets in the tournament last season with old side Darvel, dumping Premiership Aberdeen and League One Montrose on the way to the last 16.

And he added: “Some of the big boys enter in the next round, so we want to be in there.

“Last season at Darvel, we beat Montrose away comfortably when they were sitting third in League One at that point, so you never know what can happen.

“The lower ranked team you play, the better chance you have of getting through, obviously, and we want to go as far as we can.”

Kick-off at Foresters Park on Saturday is 3pm.

Follow Lanarkshire Live Sport onX via@LanLiveSport, like us onFacebookor find us onInstagramfor the latest sports news, pictures and video.