ROSSVALE boss Martin Lauchlan has warned his players to beware a Petershill backlash when the teams meet in the New Coin Holdings West of Scotland Cup second round tomorrow.

One-time Partick Thistle and St Johnstone midfielder Lauchlan was formerly a Peasy player under Stevie Easton, and he believes the famous old Springburn club's current gaffer, Willie Patterson, will have primed his troops to emerge with all guns blazing when they run out in front of their own supporters following last weekend's 2-0 defeat away to Troon.

The 34 year old insisted: "I had an all too brief playing stint with Petershill, but was there long enough to realise the trophy-laden history of the club has bred fans with massive expectations.

"They regard it as failure unless their players are mounting a serious challenge for the major honours as I found to my cost when the team I played in containing quality types Ryan Jordan, James McKinstry, Michael Keenan and Ross McCabe, was torn asunder when results went against us.

"Ross is the one survivor from back then and, not surprisingly, is the captain nowadays so he will be well aware there is pressure on Petershill to enjoy a decent run in the New Coin Holdings Cup having made an early Scottish Cup exit and now fallen a long way off in the Super Premier title race.

"Going up against one of the best teams in the game when they are fired up to do well only makes our task all the tougher, but my players will not be fazed in the slightest by our underdogs tag.

"We will look to the occasion as a test of our standing in the Juniors and, in that respect, the key is to keep things tight and don't give the Peasy boys any added encouragement, particularly in the opening exchanges.

"If supporters get impatient and force their team to open up, then we will look to steal something on the break and see where it gets us. But don't think for a moment that we are planning to sit in and defend, because I have a playing squad thirsting to have a real go at Petershill."

Rossvale could be on the verge of signing former Clydebank midfielder Craig McReady, however Lauchlan was keeping his cards close to his chest, although he did reveal Jordan Baskhill would be between the sticks while accomplished defensive starlet Reece Donaldson would be asked to plug the gaps left by the departure of Beith loan centre-back David Donnelly, who has been recalled by his Ayrshire club.

Ex-Pollok midfielder Ross Hepburn anchors their engine room, while up front the goalscoring displays of veteran frontman Robbie Winters belies his 40 years and continues to be the perfect foil for hard-working partner Fraser Team.

The Rossvale gaffer added: "Robbie's enthusiasm and will-to-win is showing no sign of diminishing, and he will relish this big-game occasion .

"If Petershill's backline give him a look at goal, then he has the ability to punish them and Fraser is no slouch in the scoring stakes either, so I'm hoping they will provide a greater threat than we posed in facing the Peasy in a friendly earlier this season.

"They turned us over 7-1 and were most impressive, but we fielded a whole bunch of trialists and I fancy we can make more of a game of it this time. Our preparations have gone well, other than training having to be cancelled on account of Wednesday night's weather conditions as we had no indoor facilities to fall back on.

"The players are coming in earlier than normal tomorrow to do some conditioning work ahead of the game which I'm thinking might well pull in the biggest crowd of the day given the wintry conditions are threatening to cause a lot of cancellations."

Lauchlan can claim to have already steered a lower-league team to victory over Petershill as he was in charge at Shettleston when they celebrated a memorable 1-0 Central League Cup win over his former team in 2012.

He recalled: "I had moved to Greenfield Park as coach, but Hugh Kelly had to step aside because of other commitments and he asked me to look after team matters in his absence with another ex-Peasy player Andy Thomson as my number two.

"We rode our luck that day and Rossvale will need more of the same to come good tomorrow."

Meanwhile, the first reported attempt to beat the wintry weather has come from Super Premier title challenging Auchinleck Talbot, whose determination to close the points gap on runaway leaders Irvine Meadow has seen Tommy Sloan agree to switch his side's game against Troon to the more coastal Portland Park - even though Troon boast an unbeaten record on their own pitch dating back to February.