BRECHIN gaffer Jim Duffy has set his sights on overcoming Wick in the Scottish Cup after another frustrating draw on league duty at the weekend.
The City manager watched Stenhousemuir keeper Chris McCluskey pull off a string of brilliant saves to deny the visitors the chance to add to Rory McAllister's first half strike.
His performance between the sticks cost Brechin dearly as a controve
rsial penalty, converted by home hero Kevin Motion, meant Brechin were held to their fifth draw on the trot.
The travelling support were left stunned when the referee awarded the penalty as they felt Paul McLean's handball took place outside the box, a view shared by Duffy.
But he refused to blame the result on that incident alone.
Duffy said: "The last couple of weeks have been frustrating because the team has been played well.
"We've created a number of chances and it was a decent game. Not to take away from the opposition because they worked hard, but their keeper made some fantastic saves.
"I thought the handball (for the penalty] was outside the box. Whether it was six inches or six feet it doesn't matter. As long as it's not in the box it's not a penalty.
"At the end of the day the referee made the decision and we've got to respect that. I'm not stamping my feet about it.
"The difference between winning and losing on Saturday was Chris McCluskey, who made some fantastic saves.
"From our point of view, the commitment of the players was great. We're creating chances and working hard.
"I'd say that Cowdenbeath and Dumbarton were deserved results. I don't think we were the better team on those games and they're good teams so you've got to accept that, but there are positive elements. We can come back from goals down and we're playing good football.
"However, we should maybe have another four points on the board just now."
Saturday sees Brechin take a trip to the top of Scotland as they take on Wick in Scottish Cup duty.
Duffy is taking nothing for granted heading into the fixture, but said his team can win through to the next round if they play to their potential.
He said: "Wick will be a real test because we don't know what the weather will be like.
"There could also be one or two players missing through work commitments because we want to go up on Friday night.
"The pitch might be heavy with rain and there is a lot of things that can affect the game, such as wind, etc., but as long as we do everything we can do we should win."
He isn't setting any higher targets than that though. "I just want to win this game."
Goals from midfield have been in short supply this season and Duffy thinks that's one reason why his side have struggled to get a win in recent weeks.
He's hoping that might start to change on Saturday.
He said: "We've been quite adventurous in our approach in recent weeks. On Saturday again we played with Bobby Barr, Charlie King and Rory McAllister up front and gave the midfield license to get forward.
"A few years ago we had Darren Smith who could grab a few. We are getting guys in the box, but they've been unlucky at times and denied goals with good saves.
"But sometimes it's about a midfield option for scoring goals. Maybe if a player gets one or two goals from midfield he'll get a few more."
