East Kilbride boss sets sights on WINNING the SPFL Trust Trophy after Lowland side paired with Ayr in quarter-finals

dailyrecord.co.uk:

East Kilbride boss Mick Kennedy says his fifth-tier side are targeting winning the SPFL Trust Trophy and insists he is not daunted by facing Ayr United in the quarter-finals next month.Kilby stunned Championship side Airdrie in the last 16 to earn their place in the last eight and they now know Scott Brown’s Honest Men stand between them and a historic semi-final place in a game to be shown live on BBC Alba on November 12.But Kennedy – who famously knocked Premiership Aberdeen out of the Scottish Cup with Darvel in 2023 – believes his Lowland League charges can go even further and become the first non-league side to lift the silverware in the competition’s history.Kennedy said: “Our aspirations are to try and win the cup.

As crazy as that sounds to some people, it sounds really rational and normal to me, but that’s just my mindset.“I said to the players you need to be in it to win it, and we’ve got to believe we can.“At some point you are going to come up against difficult opposition in the process and it just so happens it is the quarter-finals.“I think, at this stage, you need to believe we are good enough to win the trophy and that means we need to put Ayr out – that’s the way I think about it.“We were massive underdogs against Airdrie and did it and I’m sure we were underdogs as well when we beat Cove in the previous round.“I remember when I was at Darvel we beat Montrose 5-1 in the Scottish Cup and then we obviously put Aberdeen out a couple of years ago.

So I’ve been through this process many times and it is just about belief.“We are at home and we are looking forward to the challenge.

It will be a really good test for us and we aren’t daunted by it in the slightest.”The sides have already met this season, with Ayr