Management thoughts on Strollers tomorrow.

Posted on Friday, November 6th, 2009

Mike says -

“Tomorrow sees the start of a run of home games which could stretch through to 19th December if we can get a positive result against Civil Service Strollers in the third round of the Image Printers East of Scotland Qualifying Cup.  This comes after a run of fixtures where six out of seven games took place away from the Academy and we were successful on every occasion.

Strollers lie third from the foot of the Premier League but we are not fooled by that statistic. If they win their games in hand they can rise to third in the table and Sam and I are well aware of the encouraging current form which sees them unbeaten in eight domestic games. The only blip on that record was a narrow defeat in the Scottish to Berwick where they led for a long period. Keith and his players are quietly going about their business and it’s up to our management team to get across to our players how difficult an afternoon we can expect.

For our part and without firing on all cylinders, last Saturday’s win at Meadowbank was as profesional a performance as we have given this campaign. The early season nerves have dissappeared and we are showing a higher level of consistency than we did in the opening month.

We will be without Chris Smith tomorrow but new signing Luke Cassidy will come onto the bench. There is keen competition for places at present and Sam and I may make a couple of changes to both freshen things up and keep all our players on their toes.

Whoever gets a jersey tomorrow must realise how difficult a task they have ahead of them. As I say above, Strollers have slipped under the radar somewhat and anything other than 100% commitment and concentration will prove costly. We have to be prepared for a very competitive cup-tie where only our best will do.

I hope we get the performance we need.”

Mike