Scottish Cup: Buckie Thistle missing two key players for tonight's second round clash with Caley Thistle, but former Aberdeen youngster Max Barry could feature for the Highland League side

TWO key Buckie Thistle players will miss tonight’s big Scottish Cup clash – but a new signing might get his chance to shine.

Playmaker Andrew MacAskill suffered a nasty knee gash in Saturday’s 3-1 friendly defeat against Brora Rangers and has been ruled out of the tie against his former club Caley Thistle.

Wide man Scott Adams rolled his ankle in training and he too will sit out the Inverness match.

But MacAskill’s departure from the weekend bounce game led to the introduction of former Aberdeen midfielder Max Barry, who Jags signed during the lockdown.

Barry set up Buckie’s goal and did enough to impress manager Graeme Stewart and put him in contention for an appearance against Caley Jags.

“It was a blow losing Andy,” Stewart said. “He got a bad cut just below his knee and we were worried at first that it was something more serious, but he just needed stitches.

“He went to hospital and unfortunately he can’t play for two or three more weeks so that rules him out.

Read more: Buckie must find Caley weak points.

“Scott will also be out, which is disappointing as he’s been playing really well for us.

“But I was delighted for young Max who came on for Andy and was excellent. It’s a good opportunity for him. He might have a chance of playing on Tuesday now.

“He’s only 19 and we’ve signed him for the rest of the season, but we’ve made him an offer to sign for longer. He’s really comfortable on the ball, a classy player.

“He’s played full-time for the last two years and you can see that he’s got a lot of ability and composure.”

Barry linked up well with Marcus Goodall to win Buckie a corner in Saturday’s game against Brora. Barry took the corner and Goodall scored Jags only goal of the contest at Victoria Park.

“The game was good. We got beat 3-1 but the scoreline wasn’t important just now. A couple of individual mistakes I wasn’t too happy with but again the game has probably blown that out of the way. Now I’ve got a clearer picture in my head for Tuesday.

“We needed a game to work on some shape and give boys a bit of match fitness. I was happy with Brora for giving us a game and travelling to Buckie, I appreciate that.”

Buckie Thistle claimed a cup scalp by defeating League 2 hosts Albion Rovers 3-0 in the last round on Boxing Day, see YouTube highlights below.

Buckie face a tough challenge tonight against a Caley Thistle side who had dipped close to the Championship relegation zone, until wins over Raith and Dunfermline in the last week pushed them closer to the promotion play-offs for the Premiership.

We will give it our best go. We have confidence in the team and we know we are massive underdogs but that is fine,” Stewart added.

They are three divisions above us, they are full-time and they have been playing through this pandemic, unlike us. It’s a bit of a free hit for us, we can go out there and enjoy it and of course we want to progress.

“We’ve got a game plan and we need to follow it to the letter. We have to hope we have a really good day and they have an off day.”