Kinnoull are back after pitch fiascos

Oct 17 2008 by Our Correspondent, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

KINNOULL and Bankfoot are the only teams with home games tomorrow.

Kinnoull have Newtongrange Star as their guests at Tulloch Park in the Premier League and Bankfoot play hosts to North Region side Lewis United in the GA Cup.

These should be entertaining encounters.

Kinnoull haven’t had a game for the past two weeks as they have been called off due to unplayable pitches.

Tomorrow’s game doesn’t look to be in any danger as the Tulloch Park pitch is in tip top condition.

There will have to be a serious change in the weather to affect this game and there are no indications of that happening.

The one good thing that spawned from Kinnoull’s lay off and that is they now have only two players still out with injuries.

Forwards Charlie Bradshaw, foot injury and Neil McCallum, hand injury are the players concerned. Jamie McKenzie continues to be unavailable due to work commitments. Scott Brown expects to have a squad of 17 available.

Last season’s corresponding game between the clubs at Tulloch Park was an exhilarating encounter which ended all square with Kinnoull and Newtongrange each scoring five goals.

Newtongrange lost out on promotion last season by one point but got off to a slow start in this season’s campaign. They posted notice last week they are back on track when they thrashed Musselburgh, who had a 100 per cent league record, to the tune of 5-0.

Kinnoull and the Lothian side are on equal terms a far as points are concerned, while Kinnoull are behind in the goal difference stakes they have the advantage of having a game in hand. This looks like being a keenly contested and entertaining encounter.

Bankfoot were also left idle last week after their game against Rosyth had to be called off as Coronation Park was waterlogged. There doesn’t seem to be any thoughts in the Bankies camp that tomorrow’s game could suffer the same fate unless there is a quite dramatic change in the weather.

The Bankies have North Region Super League side Lewis United as their guests in the GA Cup second round tie and what a boost it would be for them if they could progress to round three.

Bankies gaffer Robin Wood is confident his team can do so.

This, no doubt, stems from Bankies excellent performances in their two previous games and, of course, they have the reputation of being a team one would be happy to avoid in cup ties.

Lewis United haven’t been doing well in their league games and are in the lower reaches of the league table although its worth noting that they produced a shock in the previous round of the GA Cup when they beat Banks o’ Dee. This cup clash has all the ingredients to make it a very interesting and keenly contested encounter.

Jeanfield Swifts, Scone Thistle and Coupar Angus all have away ties. Swifts would appear to have the stiffest task as their opponents are Sunnybank who play in the Super League and are currently in the second top spot of the table.

Scone andCoupar Angus are guests of Fortmartine and Stoney Wood respectively who play in their regions first division which is equivalent in status to the leagues that Scone and Coupar play in. Swifts boss Eddie O’Connor is having a real headache this season in trying to cope with a crop of injuries to players. Nial Cassidy, Mike Waring, Gary Brock and Steven Watt have all been out for some weeks now. And there’s more bad news on the injury front as Gerrard Kelly and Sean Fergus have been ruled out with knee injuries.

There is, however, a distinct possibility that Steven Watt may return for tomorrow’s game. Steven has resumed training and if he feels no ill effects he will be in the squad which Eddie O’Connor says will number 15 or 16. Swifts met Sunnybank in the Scottish Cup last season and they held them to a 2-2 draw at the Riverside but lost the replay by 5-0. Swifts will be hoping that tomorrow’s visit to the Heatheryford ground will be more successful.

Scone Thistle, after clocking up their first win of the season last week will travel to meet Fortmartine in a much more confident mood now that they have broken their duck. Thistle manager Derek Adam is in an upbeat mood about the game as he has been given a boost by the fact that he will have an even stronger squad than he had last week. Gary Christie, Scott McManus and Mark Robertson were unavailable. They return, only Grant McGregor is missing, the defender is unavailable. Derek Adam expects to have a squad of 16 available.

Fortmartine, who are in the top half of their league table produced one of the shocks in the first round of this cup when they knocked out Super League side St Ternan by dint of a 4-2 win in a penalty shoot out. After the game had ended all square at 2-2.

Coupar Angus’s hosts Stoneywood are also in the top half of their league table. They had a colossal 11-1 away win in the previous round of this cup against Cruden Bay who play in the same league. Coupar Angus co-managers Dave Martin and Derek Grier are too long in the tooth to let a results like that bother them although no doubt they will have taken note of it.

Dave and Derek have turned Coupar’s fortunes round this season as they are going along very well in their league games. They have only lost one so far and that was to the league leaders Bro’ty and a cup win away from home would be a further boost for them.

Coupar expect to travel with a full strength squad to choose from as Jim Hendry, Georgie Grier and Matush Morpucick who were unavailable last week return. Coupar will depart for this game at 11am.

Blairgowrie are expecting to get their first Scottish Cup replay against Crossgates Primrose played tomorrow. This tie which is due to be played at the Fifers Humbug Park was called off last week as the pitch was waterlogged. No such problem is visualised for tomorrow’s game at least at the time of going to press.

Blair boss Billy Mackay is confident that his team will do the business this time and progress to a second round tie against Thorniewood. Billy had a piece of good news this week when John Farquharson intimated to him that he wished to withdraw his transfer request and stay with the club. That’s the second time in a week that a Blair player has taken this action. John Farquharson is a striker who is very adept in the art of training changes. John returns to the squad which will be at full strength for this game.

Luncarty are away from home to Rosyth in the Central League. This is a tough assignment for the Bleachers as the Fifers are well to the fore in the league leadership race. The Bleachers are still without Fraser Simpson and Kyle Warner. Simpson is still nursing the knee injury that has given him trouble for some weeks now and Kyle is in much the same boat with a leg injury. On the plus side Mike Jarmuzweski who was unavailable last week returns and its hoped that Mike Lindsay who was on holiday last week will be home in time to join the squad. Team boss Alan Williams expects to have a squad of 16 or 17 available.

Kinnoull and Luncarty, the two remaining teams in the East of Scotland Cup were both blessed with home ties when the second round was drawn on Tuesday night. Kinnoull take on Musselburgh while Dundonald Bluebell are Luncarty’s opponents. The dates are to be arranged.

Scone Thistle invite anyone who wishes to travel for their game at Fortmartine tomorrow to travel on their team bus free of charge. They should join the bus at the Scone Arms at 10.30am.

Perthshire Juniors

TOMORROW’S fixtures: GA EngineeringCup (second round) – Bankfoot v Lewis United; Fortmartine v Scone Thistle, FC Stoneywood v Coupar Angus; Sunny Bank v Jeanfield Swifts. Kick-offs 2.15pm.

Premier League – Kinnoull v Newtongrange Star.

Central League – Rosyth v Luncarty.

Scottish Cup (first round replay)– Crossgates P v Blairgowrie.

Kick-offs 2.30pm.