Stand Free's Stranraer Match Preview

The Dons make their first ever competitive trip to Stair Park tonight for the CIS League Cup tie with Stranraer. The Dandies have never played tonight's opponents in a league game, but have crossed paths three times in cup competitions: once in the Scottish Cup, twice in the League Cup, and always at Pittodrie. Every competitive fixture between the sides appeared in the '90s, the Dons have won every game and have yet to even concede a goal.

Therefore, this game is far from being a potential bana...er, a possible shock.

Stranraer are currently a lowly eighth in the Scottish First Division even though they have yet to be beaten at home this season. They won 1-0 at Third Division East Fife in the second round of the CIS Cup, before knocking out woeful Dundee in the third. They had a dour 0-0 draw at home to the Dons' 2003 Scottish Cup third round opponents Queen of the South on Saturday.

They still don't look like a potential ba...er, giant-killers.

The Dons still have an injury list that deserves the adjective "crippling", with Hart, Byrne, Mackie and Budgie still out, and Steve Lovell can be added to that list after failing to recover from a head knock he picked up on Saturday, hilariously described as "discussion" on the BBC website.

Jimmy Calderwood knows that there can be no slip-ups tonight, and certainly not related to the hide of any tropical fruit. He told RedWeb: "We will get the report in from Stranraer's match on Saturday and study it carefully. Sandy (Clark) knows them well from his time at Berwick last season so he will give us a good insight. They are a big strong physical team and we know our attitude has to be spot on. We then have to be patient and hopefully the football quality will tell in the end."

Gary Dempsey may find himself getting a start after being dropped in recent games despite a solid start to the season. He added: "We found things difficult against Berwick in the last round so you can be sure the manager will have us fired up for this."

One Stranraer player that will be looking to menace the Dons defence tonight is former Don Leigh Hinds. Hinds, who most fans would agree was a useful if slow player who didn't score enough goals in his brief spell at the Dons, will face some old team mates for the first time since leaving Pittodrie. However, he will find a very different team in terms of quality and attitude to the Paterson-led one he left behind. The ferret-up-a-trouser-leg forward has scored two goals for Stranraer since he joined at the beginning of the season from Partick Thistle, but interestingly both have been in the CIS League Cup - one against Dundee in the previous round, and the only goal of the game at East Fife in the second round.

Arguably Hinds' replacement in the current Dons line-up is Jamie Smith, who is similarly not an out-and-out goalscoring forward, but is good at making runs into the channels, creating space, and teasing defenders with good ball trickery. Smith, the Dons' outstanding player so far this season, may return up front to support Stevie Crawford due to Lovell's injury, with Ricky Foster in line to start in Smith's favoured position in midfield.

Crawford opened his Dons scoring account with either a beautifully judged poacher's half-volley from just outside the six-yard box, or an ill-judged sclaff which fortunately looped past the wrong-footed Pars keeper. Either way, it was a good striker's goal from a good striker - something the Dons have lacked in recent years. A delighted Stevie told RedWeb: "I came to Aberdeen to push for trophies and reach finals. It was good to hear the fans shouting my name after I scored on Saturday. That first goal was important for me."

Final word to Jimmy: "The key word is attitude - It has to be right and I have told the players this. There were signs on Saturday that the team are starting to gel together. We played really well in the first half and slowly but surely we are getting there."

The match kicks off at 7:45pm.