After last weekend’s big freeze caused a complete white-out in the fixture list, we head to Beechwood Park to take on Tommy Sloan’s Auchinleck Talbot for our West of Scotland Football League Cup 3rd round clash.
⚽️ Auchinleck Talbot versus Troon F.C.⚽️
Saturday 9th December 2023
West of Scotland Football League Cup (Round 3)
Beechwood Park, Auchinleck
Kick-off 2pm
Inconsistency has been the watchword for Troon this season, with good wins followed up by frustrating performances. But after a long run on the road, we have enjoyed two home Cup matches with two wins in front of our own supporters & the form is looking up.
It’s been a summer of real change in East Ayrshire, as Talbot waved goodbye to a number of club legends & important players. Multiple league & Scottish Cup winners Andy Leishman, Graham Wilson, Mark Shankland, Keir Samson and Ross Taylor all departed Beechwood in the summer to mark a season of transition under Tommy Sloan. And after a slow & hesitant start, results are showing signs of improvement already.
Here’s everything you need to know ahead of Saturday’s match…
The extra weeks lay-off may have helped one or two players carrying knocks, and hopefully we may see one or two of them returning this weekend.
Chris Millar made his second debut for the club against Girvan, while fellow returnee Mark Morrison featured as a second half sub & he comes into contention for a starting spot this weekend.
Ewan McLevy could return after sitting out against Girvan with a niggle, while Dean Fulton is back in training after a groin strain. Jack Sherrie is back running after injuring his ankle at Cumnock and, while it’s too early to see him back on the pitch, he is continuing his rehabilitation under Darrell’s watch.
Frustrating, although obviously not wholly unexpected, to be sitting idle last weekend just when we thought we were starting to gather a wee bit of momentum. Training had been good & we were all ready for a local derby, but Jack Frost had other ideas.
Interesting challenge for us this weekend, we’ve had some really close encounters against Talbot of late & can consider ourselves quite unlucky in some of those games. The league match in April obviously springs to mind, but we need to stop considering these matches as a missed opportunity.
As I said earlier in the season, I keep getting told that this isn’t the same Auchinleck Talbot that we’ve seen over the last few years, but I’m not buying that – there’s still the culture of winning up there & you still have class acts like Neill McPherson & Gareth Armstrong up there, so they’re a top, top side still. Tommy has made a brave call this summer, and hats off to him for it; the signs already suggest that it may have been the right one.
But once again, it has to be all about us: about what we do on the pitch & how we execute it. We’ve seen the best & the worst of what we can do this season, we have to find a little consistency in there with some results.
Jimmy Kirkwood (Manager)
| Full Name | Auchinleck Talbot Football Club |
| Nickname(s) | The ‘Bot |
| Founded | 1909 |
| Ground | Beechwood Park, Auchinleck |
| Capacity | 4,000 (500 seated) |
| Club President | Morton Wright |
| Manager | Tommy Sloan |
| Captain | Gareth Armstrong |
| 2022-23 | WOSFL Premier Division, 2nd from 16 |
⚽️️ MICHAEL WARDROPE ⚽️
The 26 year old was an expensive purchase from Irvine Meadow in March ’22, but he has consistently proven himself to be a real spark over the last few seasons with both Medda & Hurlford.
His goals & creativity are key to the Talbot forward line, and he will be hoping he will be a major player in this new phase of the club’s history.
⚽️️ GARETH ARMSTRONG ⚽️
A very familiar face to Seasider’s, the 30 year old made his name as a defender with Troon, but is another regular at the heart of the Talbot midfield.
A real athlete with a great reading of the game, Gaz has proved himself at the very highest level of the non-league game in Scotland. Now wearing the armband, he is one of the players Tommy Sloan will be relying on to integrate his new-look side.
© Thanks to our club photographer Graeme McKenzie for his photos – amazing, as always!
Auchinleck Talbot
| LOST | WON | WON | WON | WON |
| 3-0 | 1-0 | 1-3 | 1-1 (Pens 2-4) | 1-0 |
| Broxburn Athletic (A) | Largs Thistle (H) | Cumnock (A) | Bridge of Don Thistle (A) | Kirkintilloch Rob Roy (H) |
| Sat 18th November | Weds 15th November | Sat 11th November | Sat 4th November | Sat 28th October |
| South Challenge Cup | WOSFL Premier | WOSFL Premier | Scottish Junior Cup | WOSFL Premier |
Troon F.C.
| WON | WON | LOST | LOST | LOST |
| 5-1 | 3-2 | 4-3 | 2-1 | 2-0 |
| Girvan (H) | Thornton Hibs (H) | Cumnock (A) | Kirkintilloch Rob Roy (A) | Rutherglen (A) |
| Sat 25th November | Sat 18th November | Weds 15th November | Sat 11th November | Sat 4th November |
| WOSFL Cup (Round 2) | South Challenge Cup | WOSFL Premier | WOSFL Premier | Scottish Junior Cup |
If you can’t make it along to the game , you can keep up to date with all the latest info via the club’s social media channels:
Live updates from the official Troon F.C. Twitter feed (I’m not calling it X yet):
- Team news pre-match
- Goal alerts
- News flashes
- Real time alerts
Match news via the official Troon F.C. Facebook page
- Team news pre-match
- Half-time score & update
- Full time results
It was very fine margins between the sides last term, in two very exciting encounters.
In an entertaining first encounter of last season at Portland Park, a really hard-fought encounter looked to be playing out to a draw, only for a Graham Wilson goal to send Troon heading home deflated.
The return match in April under the Beechwood floodlights was yet another close encounter. A cheeky Jaime Gallagher “panenka” penalty deservedly opening the scoring for the Seasiders, only to see that man Graham Wilson pop up again with an equaliser.
(before this week’s matches)
| REFEREE: | ||
| Barry Cook | ||
| Assistant Referee 1: | Assistant Referee 2: | |
| Andrew Carbry | Bebek Bhattarai |
| Referee Observer: | To be appointed |
🚌 𝗦𝗨𝗣𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗦 𝗕𝗨𝗦 🚌
Due to the close proximity, there will be no official supporter’s bus this week.
🚍 𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗩𝗘𝗟 𝗕𝗬 𝗕𝗨𝗦 🚏
🔗 STAGECOACH.com
🚝 𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗩𝗘𝗟 𝗕𝗬 𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗜𝗡 🚉
🔗 SCOTRAIL.co.uk
Tickets are available at the turnstiles at Beechwood Park:
| Adult: | £8.00 |
| Concession: | £5.00 |
A detailed match report will be posted in the match centre after the game, with the team line-ups, scorers & bookings on the specific match page for the fixture.
To visit the match centre, CLICK HERE.
⚽️ Troon Development Team versus Auchinleck Talbot ⚽️
Friday 8th December 2023
WOSFDL Conference D
QMA Sports Campus, Ayr
Kick-off 8pm
Head along & support the Troon stars of tomorrow!
⚽️ Largs Thistle versus Troon F.C.⚽️
Saturday 16th December 2023
PDM Huws Gray WOSFL Premier Division
Barrfields, Largs
Kick-off 1.30pm