Stuart King knows it is a tough ask for Banbridge Town at Coleraine

Queen’s showed the so-called smaller clubs how to do it when they dumped Linfield out of the competition in the last round.

But King feels that because his side have to make the journey to The Showgrounds it makes their task even tougher.

“It’s a bit different to Queen’s as we are away to Coleraine, but as they proved anything can happen in the cup,” said the Town boss.

“If we were to win I think it would be up there as one of the biggest cup shocks ever, it would be phenomenal.

“It’s a class draw for us.

“It’s great that our wee club has done so well to get here and been rewarded with such a massive tie.”

It has been a tough season to date for Banbridge as they are yet to taste victory in the Premier Intermediate League. But King hopes their success in the cup so far can be transferred over to the league.

“We haven’t won a league game yet this year, but we’ve only played nine games to date so I fully expect us to climb the table over the next few months,” he said.

“The cup run has been great for the club as a whole.

“In the last two rounds we have played two of the biggest Amateur league teams.

“They brought big crowds with them, which was brilliant for us financially.

“It has been brilliant for us to get so far in the competition, I think this is the furthest we have been in over 30 years!”

And it will be something of a reunion for King as he catches up with a few familiar faces again.

“When the draw was being made it was either Linfield or Coleraine I wanted.

“Yes there will be a few familiar faces there.

“Obviously I played with Oran, ‘Winkie’ and ‘Dougie’ at Linfield and also Stevie Lowry at Ballymena, and I did my coaching badges with Paul Owens.

“It will be great to get a catch up with them.

“We’re going to make a weekend of it and stay up on the north coast.

“I’m still very good mates with Dougie and his wife is singing in Portstewart on Saturday night so we will be out socialising after the game.”

Bannsiders boss Oran Kearney certainly will not be taking the game lightly.

“We will be treating Banbridge with the utmost respect,” he said.

“It’s a competition we want to do well in and we have got through a tough tie to get here.

“I know Stuart well and for as much as he’ll want to come up here and enjoy the day, he has a lot of football pride about him, he is a good guy and a good coach, so we need to make sure we are right on it.”