Lothian Thistle head coach receives prep talk from Jim Jefferies at Hearts

"I received a telephone call from Jim giving me some guidance regarding preparation for this cup final," said Ogilvie. "We have not played since we won the semi-final at the beginning of May while Spartans have played four games in the same period. Their last two games have been against young teams so maybe they will have some heavy legs.

"However, knowing their joint managers, Sam Lynch and Mike Lawson, they will have rested appropriate players for these three cup finals."

Ogilvie reflected on Lothian's semi-final win against Tynecastle, saying: "We were trailing 2-0 but our performance in the last 15 minutes was excellent. Chic McAleavy and me made some substitutions and changed our formation, asked our players to do something different and it paid off. We got the ball down and into channels and we were delighted. The only aspect that took the gloss off the victory was the injury to Tynecastle's Wayne Sproule and we wish him a speedy recovery."

Turning his attention to tonight's game Ogilvie added: "Although we have played Spartans four times this season and lost all of them there has not been a lot between the sides. We need our goalkeeper and our back four to be strong because Spartans are the best team in the league.

"We also require our players to have belief in themselves. I honestly believe that we have players who are as good as Spartans but Lothian have not won anything for a while and this is the first experience for Chic and me in a cup final with Lothian. We will be asking our players to burst a gut for 90 minutes and to take their chances."

Lothian, with the exception of Martin McCaulay, have a full squad available.

Spartans, meanwhile, reflected on their King Cup victory against Stirling University on Sunday when joint manager Mike Lawson, said: "It was hard work because Stirling were very difficult to kill off. They were dangerous at set-pieces and if they had pulled a goal back then anything could have happened. What was great from our perspective was that our concentration levels were magnificent and hopefully that will carry on.

"We played tonight's opponents, Lothian Thistle, on four occasions this season and in every game they have had spells when they were on top. They are a really good football side who looked like they would finish second in the Premier Division until they were pipped by Whitehill Welfare. In Wayne McIntosh, Lothian have one of the best strikers in the league. Our Keith McLeod and Wayne would be some pairing at our level.

"I watched them in their semi-final win against Tynecastle and that shows you what can happen in football. No way are we treating Lothian lightly. This is our third final in six days which is a really unusual scenario and although our players are tired both mentally and physically they trained on Monday night.

"We will freshen things up again tonight and there is a good chance three or four of the substitutes from Sunday could start although Sam and I have to pick a balanced side. We will need 14 players to try to win this cup.

"Whatever happens it will have been a great season although I want our players to finish on a high, especially for Dan Gerrard who plays his last game for Spartans tonight. He has been immense for us, particularly in the second half of the season.

The action kicks-off at St Mark's Park at 7.00pm with admission prices, adults 4.00 and concessions 2.00.