Goals aplenty are on the menu for Junior followers heading to Dunterlie on Saturday for the ETHX Energy Scottish Junior Cup clash of Arthurlie and Dunipace.

But it remains to be seen whether that will be down to the home team’s attacking strengths or the defensive shortcomings of the visitors.

One can hardly consider the Barrhead side to be prolific going forward given their unwanted distinction as the lowest scoring Super Premier Division outfit, along with Shettleston.

However, the Pace undoubtedly have problems in terms of preventing the goals raining in and have yet to record a clean sheet to their name this season.

Lie boss Robert Downs, no mean forward in his own playing days with Arthurlie, Pollok and Junior Scotland, is well aware of his side’s poor striking stats, but is refusing to throw caution to the wind.

He said: "We are not defensive minded in the slightest and boast top notch frontmen in Chris Dallas, Gary Carroll and Gary Smith that most teams would bite your hand off to have at their beck and call.

“But it’s just not happened for them in front of goal up to now and I would love for things to change on Saturday even though I’m not going to shoehorn all three players into starting jerseys to try and achieve that aim.

“First and foremost, there is a Scottish Cup tie to be won and we cannot afford to think we can put out an experimental line-up and expect to book a place in the next round.

“Dunipace will get a lift coming here and will raise their game accordingly and we fully expect they will set their stall out to be difficult to play against and beat.”

A four-game suspension marks versatile defender Gavin Rushford as the only definite non-starter for Arthurlie who are boosted by goalkeeper Mikey White declaring himself fully fit after a groin strain forced him to sit out his side’s last two matches.

Downsy said: “It’s always a nagging concern when you have only one goalkeeper available on a Saturday.

"So having Mikey back is welcome news even though his return poses a bit of a selection headache because Zander Cowie has not let anyone down with his appearances as Mikey’s deputy.”

The Lie gaffer was unaware that a former Junior Scotland team-mate and two-time Scottish Junior Cup winner, former Linlithgow Rose fans favourite Gordon Herd, is likely to be fielded in the visiting line-up along with another ex-Rose ace Gary Kelly.

However, Dunipace boss Alan Moffat is otherwise lacking for experience.

The former midfielder and inspirational heartbeat of the Dunipace side that ran out Evening Times Cup winners in 1999 revealed he had only three players on the books when taking up the Westfield Park managerial reins during the close season after previous management team Craig McKinlay and James Orr were enticed away by the prospect of running Lowland League club Cumbernauld Colts.

Moff said: “Having most of last season’s team head away to pastures new made for difficult circumstances and I don’t mind admitting it’s been a struggle ever since trying to build from scratch .

“Just getting enough bodies on board was extremely tough going particularly in the early days but thankfully there is now light at the end of the tunnel with a core of decent youngsters at the club.

“The commitment from the guys is fantastic and they refuse to let their heads go down even though one or two heavy defeats have been the price we’ve paid for learning the Junior game as we go along.

“The guys have shaped up well on the front foot but plugging the gaps at the gap has been a different matter altogether and nobody needs to tell me we have conceded more goals than any other West Region club.

“We’ve done some work on the training ground to help make us more compact which is going to be necessary through at Arthurlie.”

A cruel stroke of fortune sees the Dunipace boss deprived of his No.2 Johnny Mitchell whose pressing work commitments compelled him to stand down after a 6-1 defeat in the First Division side’s last outing against Wishaw.

But 39-year-old Moff is confident he can call in an experienced former manager to assist him in the Dunterlie dugout even though he was steadfastly refusing to disclose names.

Meanwhile, a bit of transfer activity went ahead last night between clubs preparing to play ETHX Energy Third Round ties after Ardrossan Winton Rovers boss Chris Strain swooped to snap up Kilbirnie Ladeside pair Jack Marriot and George Boyd.

Marriot is available to face Hill O’Beath up in Fife, but striking prospect Boyd is cup-tied on account of appearing as a second-round substitute for the Blasties against Shettleston.