Bo'ness Athletic: South Challenge Cup preview

Athletic showed their character on Saturday by picking up three points away to Edinburgh College, scoring a last-minute goal to win 2-1.

They now sit in second place in East of Scotland Football League first division conference X and are four points clear in the automatic promotion spots.

Irvine was impressed with the way his players didn’t settle for a point, saying: “We showed great character to pick up the win and we were pushing to get a winner, which is how I want us to play.

“I always say I want my teams to attack and we didn’t sit back and accept a point.

“It was great for Callum Sheridan to get the winner as he was out for three months and hasn’t been back for long, so it was a nice moment for him.”

West of Scotland Football League premier division side Glenafton will be expected to progress, but Irvine believes his side can cause an upset, having already shown they are capable of going toe to toe with sides in higher divisions.

“We have the players to win the match,” he said. “The boys are looking forward to it and it will be a great atmosphere under the lights. These are the challenges they want as players,. They can show they are better than the level they are playing at currently.

“We’ve already beaten a few teams in higher leagues than us so that part doesn’t faze us at all.

“Our captain Jason MacKay and Craig Sneddon will be back from injury too.”