The Seniors play their last home game of the season tomorrow with a 2.30pm ko at the Academy.

The Juniors are away to Dalkeith in the league, also a 2.30pm ko.  We sit on the same points as Dalkeith and they are unbeaten at home so it will be atough encounter.  David Cowan goes with the same squad as last week with James Hair and Paul Sutherland still not quite match fit.  Adam Perry is up to 13 goals for the season  and will be closely watched.

Adam's 2nd goal last Saturday

The Amateurs play East Calder in the Miller Cup, replaying the game abandoned two weeks ago when Fin broke his leg.  We were ahead when the game was stopped and coach Dave Bryce will be keen that his injury hit squad can get back on the goal trail after failing to score in 120 minutes last Saturday again the Uni.  he is looking for a new penalty taker after Ronnie Napier missed two last week.

Mike says -

“One of the biggest surprises to me this season is that Preston Athletic aren’t challenging at the top of the Premier League table as we enter the business end of the season . We played them twice at the Pennypitt in the opening month of this campaign and both games were very close affairs. Omar’s goal in injury time to win the corresponding league game in August was against the run of play and we were fortunate to come away with all three points that day.

As I say I’m surprised what a poor league season Preston have had by their recent high standards but players get injured, move abroad and confidence can slowly be sapped. I went down to the Pennypitt on Tuesday thinking I might see a team feeling a bit low after losing at Muirhouse at the weekend and I’m now glad I made the journey as nothing could be further from the truth. Hawick were surprisingly game but as they tired and Preston stepped up the pace I saw a team going about their business in a professional manner.

Preston set up with a good shape, had good discipline, played at a good tempo and in Craig Manson, a former player of mine at three different clubs including Spartans, they had a striker on fire.  Safe from any worries after last weekends results Stevie and his boys can come to the Academy tomorrow and enjoy their afternoon. They can only do that by playing well and I’m sure our new surrounding will bring out the best in a side we have the upmost respect for.

For our part Sam and I have to get the players down from Cloud Nine and make them realise that tomorrow’s game will be nothing like the two previous games they’ve played in the last seven days. The goals may have flown in against Crichton and Lothian but Preston are a different proposition altogether. Crichton play in a league which isn’t up to the pace of the East of Scotland and we scored most of our goals against Lothian when they were down to 8 men.

Being our third last league game and needing to increase our points lead on Whitehill who are in cup action, the pressure is all on us tomorrow. Sam and I will check on the fitness of all the players today before picking the side but once again there will be one or two changes. Such is the strength of our squad only two players have played the full 90 minutes in our last three games as Sam and I have tried to keep the squad as fresh as possible. We play Preston on the back of two midweek games and despite that we will have to be raring to go and at our best to pick up any points.   

We are all looking forward to the game.”

Mike

Mike says -

” Even before the first sending off I think Sam and I put to bed any conjecture that by changing the starting 11 around we in some way weaken the team. Although we left out Stewart, Archie, Sean and Cloudie we were two up and had missed a penalty before Lothian were reduced to 10 men. The further dismissals killed the game and although we scored some spectacular goals I was more concerned about our players not getting involved with the referee and in saving their energy for the more important league game on Saturday. 

Lothian, who must be sick of the sight of us, have good young players and I’m sure they’ll regroup and finish the season strongly. There is always debating with referees going on and some allow more back chat than others.  In Mr McLennan’s defence I did hear him warning the Lothian management about cutting out the remarks directed to him by players as we walked off at half-time.  The rest is history and we progress to a tie at Rosewell.

For our part we score goals from all over the park as a team. I’ve often been urged by people involved with the club in the past to sign an out and out striker (a goal poacher) and someone way ahead in the goal scoring charts is held up as an example. Although he’s more of a target man or leader of the line than an out and out striker if there’s a player on a better goal scoring run than Keith McLeod at the moment his name must be Wayne Rooney. I’ll remember to check the EOS goal charts at the end of the season.

As I say we score from all over but along with Keith, Gavin is also on fire in front of goal at the moment. Despite playing in midfield or wide most of the time Gav has an eye for a goal and a sweet strike which is second to none at our level. The pair of them have scored three dozen goals between them this season and there’s more to come. 

Recently after scoring 7 goals we’ve struggled to hit the net the following game but I kept that stat quiet between the Crichton and Lothian games. And although the sending offs had a lot to do with it we’ve put that worry to bed and we can all look forward to Preston on Saturday and another vital three points to play for.

I’ll give my thoughts on that game tomorrow.”

Mike

We comfortably beat an ill disciplined Lothian Thistle 7 – 0 tonight in round 2 of the King Cup.  In came Jorge Vinelli, Danny O’Donnell and Donal Henretty from Saturday’s starting line up with Ross Archibald, Stewart Fowlie and Keith Mcleod moving to the bench.

We opened well and after 2 minutes Omar Kader went flying in the box but Alex King’s spot kick was comfortably saved by Swain.  We had most of the possession as the game progressed with Danny coming closest when he flicked it over from close range.  We took the lead in 38 minutes, a fine move involving Robbie Manson then Gavin then out to mar whose cross was headed back across goal by Donal for Jorge to head home. 

We opened well in the second half and scored a second in 55 minutes, a fine drive from Gavin from the edge of the box.  Lothian then lost the plot, with three players sent off in five minutes…two for dissent and one for a lunging tackle on Jorge.  We then kept the ball well with further goals from Keith 3, Gavin and Ross.

Team: Flockhart, O’Donnell, Hoskins, Gerrard, Sivewright, Kader, Manson, King (Mcauley 63), Henretty (McLeod 58), Vinelli (Archibald 67), Malin Subs not used: McGarrie, Fowlie

Colin has almost caught up with the 1000 Club draw:

Oct 09

1. Stuart McMillan £235

2. S Falconer £141

3. John McCabe £91

Nov 09

1. Patrick Hutton £233

2. Neil Cairns £140

3. Bob Dryburgh £93

Dec 09

1. Mark Robertson £235

2. Alistair Arnott £141

3. Walter Martynuik £94

Mike says -

“The fact that Lothian went down to Gretna on Saturday in the South Cup will make them very difficult opponents this evening. They’ll be hurting and wanting to get that defeat out of their system and we just happen to be next on the agenda. Add to that the return of their talisman striker from suspension and the fact they feel aggrieved at not taking something from our league game at the Academy in January and you have a very motivated group of individuals.

As a club Lothian are on the up. They had a good season last time round and are looking to improve on that this term. In my almost 20 years of managing in EOS football the balance of power has changed every 5 or 6 years from the Border giants to a South influence and always a threat from Midlothian. More recently Edinburgh itself appears to be “where it’s at” as Lothian along with City, Tynecastle and the Uni clubs to a lesser degree have all challenged near the top of the table.

It’s testament to how far Lothian have come that their fixture is one of the first to be noted down when a set of games are released. They are a very good team well managed and coached by people who know the game.

Sam and I like to think we know the game as well and we’re ably assisted by Mike, Eric, Walter and Dougie. We have a very good squad of players this time round and are looking to improve on last season. We went out of the King Cup at the first stage last year and want to improve by a few rounds at least this time round. Having said that we are in the middle of 4 fixtures in 2 weeks and Saturday’s was a sapping park at Crichton. 

The players are aware Sam and I like to keep everyone ticking over and there’s a good chance we’ll freshen the team up this evening. Jorge who came on and scored twice as well as assisting Gavin to his hat-trick will definitely start as will the returning Flocks and maybe one or two others. As I say the players are more aware than comfortable with our selection policy but to a man they’ll agree that Sam and I can change things round without weakening the team.

We are all looking forward to playing a team who like to get the ball down on the ground and play football.”

Mike