Management thoughts on our victory in the King Cup at Saughton

Posted on Thursday, March 22nd, 2012

Mike says –

“A job well done. On a difficult bumpy pitch for both sides Sam and my decision to bring Jordan Finnie and Jack Beesley into the side was vindicated in as little as 8 minutes. By that time they both had scored from assists by Keith McLeod and effectively put the game to bed. Our recent failure to hold on to a 2 goal half-time lead against Edinburgh Uni helped me focus the players minds on what was still needed during the interval and Ali MacKinnon confirmed our name in the hat for the next round by getting the third early in the second period.

It isn’t very often we have a comfortable time against Lothian especially at Saughton Enclosure but the early goals gave us a breathing space we rarely have in the west of Edinburgh. I think Lothian had one or two players missing but they fought hard and we all knew that the third goal in the game was going to be vital. After big Al had bundled in a corner from Deano we knew we could see the game out and start thinking about City on Saturday. Finally with Jordan starting and Clarke Veitch on the bench our reliance on our youth side as part of our overall squad couldn’t be more evident. We will get more of the promising youngsters involved before the season is out and may even blood some from the Under 17’s who’ve shown a lot of promise  training with us on a Thursday. 

We are all in tonight to check up on the fitness of our squad. Keith McLeod is unavailable for Saturday and Ali McKinnon and John Grant both finished limping at the Enclosure. We didn’t risk Donal Henretty who has an on-going problem with his heel so as a precaution (and a chance to see him with the Seniors) we’ve added Sean Wringe to our squad for Saturday. More on that game tomorrow.”

Mike