Aberdeen must show Alloa Athletic they are no soft touches if they are to defeat the Second Division side and earn safe passage to the last 16 of the Scottish Cup.
That was the stark warning from assistant manager Jimmy Nicholl ahead of tomorrow’s tie at Recreation Park. Nicholl believes Alloa manager Alan Maitland will have been fully briefed by close friend Billy Reid, whose Hamilton side out-muscled a flu-hit Dons side last weekend.
The Dons number two is convinced the Pittodrie players will not shirk any challenge on the Wasps’ artificial pitch.
Nicholl will take training today without manager Jimmy Calderwood, who is still struggling to shake off the effects of the virus which hit the club last week, but will meet up with the squad before their journey this afternoon. Nicholl said: “We know what Alloa will be like.
“They will look at what Hamilton did to us last weekend and look to press us just as hard.
“Hamilton changed their game and we did not adapt. Alan Maitland will have looked at last week’s game and will think Aberdeen were not up for the fight.
“He will be thinking Hamilton were in our faces and we did not like it. That will be their team talk – but we know we can battle when we have to. We showed it earlier in the season when we were hauling ourselves off the foot of the league.â€
Nicholl believes Alloa’s synthetic surface will be as big an obstacle as the home players, despite a productive training session on the pitch on Tuesday. He said: “The surface will be a bigger danger than the opposition.
“I enjoyed training on it on Tuesday, it was a good session, but you often find these surfaces are good for training on.
“You never play at 100% on plastic pitches because you can never run flat out as it is too difficult to turn. I remember a Dunfermline game against Partick Thistle and Lee Bullen and Derek White were running and Lee tried to turn inside but the both of them ended up over the advertising boards.
“I am not a great lover of synthetic pitches, I had three years on the plastic in America and I hated it because I had bad shin splints.
“It definitely makes it a different game because if you are playing someone through the ball has got to be perfect because it will run through.
“If it means we have to pass to feet then so be it.â€
Attacker Tommy Wright has moved a step closer to a return after coming through his first full training session in three months yesterday.
The summer signing was joined by fellow long-term absentee Stuart Duff but neither player will be considered for tomorrow’s match.
Wright has endured a miserable time since joining the Dons from Darlington, making just four substitute appearances and being sent off after conceding a penalty on his debut against Dundee United.
Nicholl added: “It was great to see them kicking a ball again but they are not ready to be involved just yet.â€
Andrew Considine could be available for tomorrow’s match but Jamie Smith, Jared Hodgkiss and Bertrand Bossu will all be left behind.
Not all bad news then
