Aberdeen are a top class side despite their bad run of results and Elgin City face a huge Scottish Cup challenge, says manager Allan Hale
Aberdeen may be in the midst of a major form slump but Elgin City manager Allan Hale says it won’t make his team’s Scottish cup task any easier.
The Dons go into tonight’s Premiership match at Rangers on an 11-match winless streak, having previous gone 26 games undefeated in all competitions in a run stretching back to last March.
Jimmy Thelin’s side could arrive at Borough Briggs on Saturday in desperate need of a result to end their sorry slump.
But Hale said; “We know we're coming up against a team that's got a lot of quality.
“Their football IQ and their game intelligence will be a lot stronger than what we come up against on a week-to-week basis.
“You just need to look at the signings Aberdeen are making in the window and the value of which they're bringing players in, I think that highlights the gap that there is between the levels.”
In response to their bad run of form, the Dons have had a busy January transfer window so far.
They spent over £1.3 million on Latvian international Kristers Tobers and Dane Alexander Jensen, as well as securing loan deals for Tottenham centre half Alfie Dorrington and Preston attacker Jeppe Okkels.
“Despite Aberdeen's form, you've still got to be realistic in the sense that you're still playing a Premiership team who arguably are the third best team in Scotland,” Hale added.
“The run that they did have at the start of the season shows how big a side that they can be when they're confident and you don't lose that ability overnight.
“The confidence drops and maybe the clarity in terms of the decision-making and the fluency and the conviction at certain moments that they're looking for to win games maybe isn't there at the moment.
“I've been involved in football long enough myself to know that things can change very quickly in football on either side and I'm sure they're putting a lot of work into the training pitch.”
Hale watched Aberdeen’s 0-0 draw with hearts on Sunday and was impressed by the Dons’ endeavours.
“You certainly saw it moments of the game how good they can be. I thought in the first half an hour of the game they were fantastic.
“So you can see that they're a side full of quality and when they get that combination play, and the wide players make that runs in behind, they can be really threatening.
“They've got so much ability, they've got so much quality and everyone's aware because it's been well documented about the recent form but football has a funny way of changing very quickly.
“We're still aware that they're a top quality side and we need to prepare for that but equally we need to prepare for trying to give ourselves the best opportunity to get a positive result which is obviously what we're going to try and do.”
Hale wants his squad to enjoy the occasion but equally give Aberdeen the test he knows they are capable of handing out.
“The players have worked so hard to get here and part of the reason why people have careers is to experience moments like what we're going to experience on Saturday.
“It's important that they soak in the atmosphere, savour some of the moments that they can and, take memories away with them that they'll remember for the rest of their career and beyond.
“We want to be competitive, we want to be strong, we want to give the support a performance that they can be proud of.
“We want to give a performance that us as a group can be proud of and we want to make sure that we come away with a lot of credit.”
