Mick Kennedy admits his East Kilbride side will have to hit a higher level than they did in the cup shock against Ayr United if they are to add Falkirk to their list of scalps this season.

Kilby welcome the Championship leaders to K-Park on Monday night for a Scottish Cup third round tie, hoping to stun John McGlynn’s high-flyers in a game that will be shown live on BBC Scotland.

Gaffer Kennedy has already seen his players send tier two side Airdrieonians and Ayr out of the SPFL Trust Trophy on their way to the semi-finals in that competition.

But he knows if they are to make it a hat-trick of shocks against Championship opposition, the Lowland League champions will need to surpass the heights they hit in an impressive 3-2 win over Scott Brown’s Honest Men on November 12.

Kennedy said: “The wins over Ayr and Airdrie should give the boys belief and confidence because we played well and dominated large parts of the game, it wasn’t like we sat in and we were fortunate.

“But my opinion is we will need to be better than we were against Ayr.

“I know people thought we played fantastically well in that game, but I still think there is room for improvement because we will need to get to a better level than we did in that game to beat Falkirk.

“But that is the challenge for myself and the staff to get the players there and get them motivated to be in the right headspace.

“We are in a good place and there can be no excuses.

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“The pressure is definitely on Falkirk but they have started the season well and there is a lot of confidence and belief about them.

“You can see that when you watch them play, they play with real freedom, everyone is expressing themselves out on the pitch so it will be a big challenge for us.

“But these are the games you want to be involved in. I think it will be a good spectacle because both teams like to play football.”

Kilby will be huge underdogs in their first live game on TV at their home ground, but he insists his players won’t fear tackling a side who have only lost twice in their last 51 league games, going back to the start of last season.

He added: “We are not daunted by it at all. I think the last few cup ties we have played have shown that we can compete at this level and compete very well.

“I don’t think the three cup upsets we’ve had this season have been deserved and there’s not been any luck about them.

“It is about going in with the same approach. It will be a different game to Ayr. Ayr are more direct, whereas Falkirk are a possession-based team, and they have real quality up and the top end of the pitch.

“It is something we are looking forward to. It is a challenge for me and Si [Ferry, the assistant manager] and the staff to try and come up with a plan, to make us difficult to beat out of possession and make us really effective in possession.

"John McGlynn is one of those people I have so much admiration for, with how he sets his teams up to play.

“It will be a real challenge for us as a coaching team to try and find a solution to try and win the game, but that’s what it is all about.”

Kick-off tonight is 7.45pm.