Airdrie boss Rhys McCabe insists the pressure is all on Dundee this weekend as the Diamonds plot a Scottish Cup upset and a place in the quarter-finals.

McCabe’s men are enjoying something of a resurgence in the last few weeks, having endured a nightmare campaign in the league until recently.

The Diamonds are bottom of the Championship and trail nearest rivals Hamilton Accies by nine points, but three wins on the bounce - including a 5-1 win over Dumbarton in the previous round of the cup - has instilled confidence.

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Dundee have already inflicted a 6-1 defeat on Airdrie in the League Cup this season, but McCabe says his side are in better shape ahead of Saturday’s trip to Den’s Park and says it will be a free hit for the Monklands men.

“We went up there short on numbers, but four or five months on we are in a much healthier position with our squad. It is totally different circumstances,” McCabe stressed.

“Dundee are going really well this season, they’ve recruited really well and executed game plans well. I’ve watched a lot of their games on the TV and they’ve performed well, especially in the derbies and they’ve had good, positive results against Rangers and Celtic, so we know it is going to be a tough tie.

“It’s one we’re expected to lose, but we won’t take our foot off the gas. We want to cause an upset.

“We put in a decent performance against Hearts in the Scottish Cup last season before their quality ultimately showed [in a 4-1 defeat].

“But the pressure is all on Dundee. It is their tie to lose. We are the away team who will be the underdogs and the bookies’ favourites to get thumped. League position would suggest that.

“So our focus is to make sure we go up there with a game plan, build on that confidence and cause an upset.”

Ironically, Dundee go into the clash after a 6-0 defeat at the weekend, which came at the hands of Hearts in the Premiership.

McCabe added: “We will give Dundee respect but they will be coming in off the back of a sore result.

“At any level, 6-0 is a sore result. We’ve always had a decent performance level when we’ve played the so-called bigger teams in whichever competition we’ve played in, so hopefully we can do that again.”