ADRIAN HANSON is hopeful that the postponement of last Saturday's Scottish Cup tie at Bellshill will not affect his Sauchie players ahead of this week's rearranged event.

A place in the last 16 of the competition is the prize for the winner of the encounter at Rockburn Park, and the assistant manager is confident his side have what it takes to advance.

He urged his squad to get their preparations right and reckons that if they do, they stand every chance of making it through.

Hanson told Advertiser Sport: "It wasn't a great shock that the game was off and to be fair to Bellshill, they let us know early in the week that it wasn't likely to go ahead.

"The signs are more promising this week so hopefully we will be able to get the game on.

"There is a huge incentive to go and win the game. The Scottish Cup is vitally important to the club and we really want to have a good run in the competition like we did last year.

"The carrot of a place in the last 16 is there if we go and beat Bellshill. It's a tie we are capable of winning, and even though Bellshill will feel the same we are determined to do that.

"You are looking to avoid the really big teams in the draw and Bellshill will be saying exactly the same thing. If we prepare as well as we can we'll certainly be confident of progressing."

Sauchie go into the tie on the crest of a wave with five wins from their last six games, and Hanson says there is a real buzz around Beechwood Park in the build-up to what could be the biggest fixture of the season so far.

He said: "We're at that stage of the competition now where every game is massive.

"The players love preparing for Scottish Cup ties and everyone at the club loves these games so it's a tie we are all looking forward to.

"We don't train any differently to normal. The boys work extremely hard but there is a different buzz about the place in the build-up to these games.

"People start wondering how far we can go in the competition.

"Everyone at the club deserves these days because they stuck by us when we had an up-and-down start to the season.

"I know that wasn't great for the supporters to watch but they have stuck by and hopefully, we're starting to be repay them now."

Despite their recent good form, Hanson and his side have still been left frustrated by a raft of postponements, but the assistant boss says it's time for Sauchie to start building some momentum in the second half of the season.

Hanson added: "What's killing us now is the stop-start nature of things because every time we start to get a bit of momentum, another game gets called off and the wind gets taken out of our sails.

"After we had a few poor results earlier in the season, we brought in a few players and results really picked up. That gave us a bit of impetus and we're just desperate to keep that going."