Tomorrow we travel to Stoneyburn for a League game; having played very well in our last 2 games only to lose out narrowly was very disappointing both from a management team perspective and from the player’s perspective. Last Saturday we were extremely hard done by as the referee awarded a penalty kick to Whitburn in the 88th minute to the utter disbelief of everyone inside the Ainslie Park Stadium however sometimes that’s the way things either go for you or against you.

Then on Wednesday night we travelled to Livingston where we played the much better football and competed very well against a strong physical side, we created a number of really good chances but found the Livingston goalkeeper in great form, we lost the first goal from being on the attack and went in 1-0 down at half time, we came out in the second half with the belief that we could win the game and scored through Davy to level on the night, however yet again lady luck desserted us and we left having been beaten 2-1. All credit to the players they have really pulled together over the past weeks and are working hard as a team.

Tomorrow we play Stoneyburn Juniors who visited the Academy a few weeks ago where we took all 3 points with a last minute penalty so tomorrow’s game should be a close one.

On the squad front we have Davy Stewart back in the fold, with Matty also available however Darran, Robbo and James are still out with injury. Andy and I will look at what players we have available and select the team for the day from there.

Alex

Mike says -

“Having had a look at the Tynecastle team the last time they played it’s obviously the influence the Stevens brothers have made as only one or two of the players who took to the park at the Academy in our corresponding home league fixture played in their win against Selkirk. The home side tomorrow look safe in our tight league but I’m sure the Tynecastle management team will be wanting one more win to push them away from the group at the bottom.

We are without John Grant tomorrow but are hopeful Donal Henretty is fit enough to take part. The return to grass after an absence of nearly four months has seen our form stutter somewhat but if we are to retain our title we need to hit the ground running at Fernieside. Our destiny is in our own hands and with our two title rivals playing each other tomorrow we have a chance to push further away from at least one of them.

Tynecastle will have other ideas about that. It should be an entertaining game.”

Mike

The Women’s team had a superb 1 – 0 win over Celtic in the semi final of the League Cup at Linlithgow tonight. Sarah Ewens scored the goal. After losing to Celtic a couple of weeks ago in the league Debbie and Mike worked hard with the team to reach our third final in a row.
The Juniors lost 2 – 1 to Livingston United in a game we played well but didn’t take our chances and the Livi ‘keeper was on top form. Davy Stewart scored our goal. The Saturday Amateurs drew 1 – 1 with Whitson Star at home in a league game, Liam Grandison scoring.

The Juniors travel to Livingston tonight in league action with a 7pm ko. Manager Alex Cunningham is using the game to see some of our 21s squad in action. The Amateurs are also in action, they play Whitson Star at the Academy in a league game with a 6.45pm ko.

The club will receive 8 South Stand tickets for the cup final, four Hibs end and four Hearts end. As before we will do a draw from those expressing an interest. Please email Craig before this Friday if you want to be included in the draw. All club members are entitled to enter the draw which includes players, coaches, 1000 club members etc.

Congratulations to Dean Philp and his team who won the Edinburgh Sunday Amateur Premier League this afternoon to cap a great season.
Well done also to the 19s who beat Edinburgh City 6 – 2 in the Jimmy Lynch Memorial Cup semi final. We raced to a 5 – 2 lead at half time with goals from Scott McPherson 2, Lee Brown, Jordan Finnie, James Cuthbertson and Callum Donnelly. We done to coaches Chris Anderson and Keith Boyes who have the squad playing some great football.
Finally our Women’s team went down 2 – 0 to Forfar this afternoon in a league game. It was even at half time and we had plenty of the ball in the second half but created few chances as Forfar hit us on he break with two strikes.