It’s already our 15th competitive match of the season, and our 5th Cup match comes around with the visit of our old friends at Cumnock to Portland Park this Saturday for our Strathclyde Demolition West of Scotland Cup Second Round match.
⚽️ Troon F.C. versus Cumnock ⚽️
Saturday 1st November 2025
Strathclyde Demolition West of Scotland Cup 2nd Round
Portland Park, Troon
Kick-off 2pm
This is our 15th competitive match of the season now (Saturday saw us complete 1/3rd of the league season already), and we boast a superb 11 wins from those 14 matches played so far. We may be a few matches ahead of Auchinleck Talbot at this stage, but 3 points sent us top of the table on Saturday so that is an excellent start to the season so far. But there seems to be a steely determination to prove that it is more than just that, as Jimmy & his coaching staff pursue silverware this season.
The three Cup competitions were certainly an area that was targeted for improvement in the summer by the coaching staff, but with Beith in the Scottish Communities Cup, Auchinleck Talbot in the South & now Cumnock in the West, we could hardly have been set three harder challenges.
Cumnock had a real see-saw campaign last season. A hectic summer saw a raft of new signings, alongside the new management team of Stephen Swift & Craig McEwan, and a little inconsistency came along with all the changes. Some fantastic wins mirrored some disappointing defeats, before a creditable 7th place finish. This summer’s transfer business has been more fine-tuning the squad rather than the total rebuild of last summer, and the addition of Adam Forde in particular really pushes them to the forefront of the title hunt.
Here’s everything you need to know ahead of Saturday’s match…
Midfielder Callan Veitch is facing a few weeks out with a shoulder injury, which was sustained against Hall Russell United in the Cup match on the 18th October.
Highly-rated young goalkeeper Rohan Harkins has joined Muirkirk until the end of the season, which is the perfect move for him as he bids to get some first team football under his belt in the First Division & return to Portland Park next summer to challenge for the goalkeeper’s jersey. Kieran MacDonald and Ben Black will not feature in this weekend’s squad, after being made available for transfer.
Captain Mark Morrison has seen a consultant & is awaiting scan results, but he is back to light training and hopefully we’ll see him back on the park soon, while Scott McLean is continuing his rehab from his knee reconstruction surgery. He is back to gentle running now & is eyeing a comeback around Christmas.
Delighted to win on the road last weekend, especially at somewhere we perhaps don’t have the best of records in recent years. But I felt it was a very rounded performance from the boys, we went forward when it was on & dictated possession when it wasn’t, so a very controlled match from our perspective which was very pleasing. Particularly when it was against a top side like Hurlford, Darren has them back to where they should be this season, so a good Saturday all round for us.
I’ve said it many times before, if you look at the matches between Troon and Cumnock in the last 4-5 years, it normally equals goals. Cumnock have recruited really well again, so as always we’ll look forward to shaping up against a top side. And it’s a Saturday rather than a midweek again!
The West has always been a big competition for us, it’s one that holds a special place in the eyes of Troon supporters, so it’s a competition we target & always want to progress in. Here’s hoping Saturday’s match lives up to the billing, I’m quite sure it will. Look forward to seeing a big support!
Jimmy Kirkwood (Manager)
| Full Name | Cumnock Juniors Football Club |
| Nickname(s) | The ‘Nock |
| Founded | 1912 |
| Ground | Townhead Park, Cumnock |
| Capacity | 3,000 |
| President | Kevin Orr |
| Manager | Stephen Swift |
| Captain | Robbie Buchanan |
| 2024-25 | WOSFL Premier Division, 7th from 16 |
⚽️️ BLAIR CURRIE ⚽️
The 31 year old is one of the top keepers in the West, and he is in his second season at Townhead Park after joining from Stirling Albion as part of Stephen Swift’s revolution last summer.
Blair began his professional career with Rangers, before joining Hamilton Accies in 2012. In his three seasons at New Douglas Park, he made 7 league appearances. He spent two seasons at Annan Athletic & two seasons at Clyde, before he moved to Forthbank in 2019 where he spent five seasons.
An experienced keeper with nearly 200 appearances in the SPFL, he has been a very reliable last line of defence for the ‘Nock.
⚽️️ DARREN BROWNLIE ⚽️
Another highly-experienced campaigner who has added real steel to the Cumnock rearguard, 31 year old Darren is another with nearly 200 SPFL appearances under his belt.
Began his senior career at Ayr United before moving on to join Partick Thistle in 2013. Spells with Cowdenbeath followed before a 5 year period with Queen of the South, making 122 appearances in a successful spell at Palmerston before a return to Partick Thistle in January 2020 where he won the League One title and narrowly missed out on promotion to the Premier League, defeated by Ross County in the play-off.
In a team with a number of attacking players, Darren has given Stephen Swift’s men a solid platform to start from.
© Thanks to Cumnock Juniors FC for their photos
Troon F.C.
| WON | WON | LOST | WON | WON |
| 0-2 | 6-1 | 1-0 | 3-0 | 1-2 |
| Hurlford United (A) | Hall Russell United (H) | Pollok (A) | Rutherglen Glencairn (H) | Beith (A) |
| Sat 25th October | Sat 18th October | Sat 11th October | Sat 27th September | Sat 20th September |
| WOSFL Premier | Scottish Communities Cup Round 3 | WOSFL Premier | WOSFL Premier | Scottish Communities Cup Round 2 |
Cumnock
| WON | WON | WON | LOST | LOST |
| 0-1 | 1-0 | 4-1 | 2-1 | 2-1 |
| St. Cadoc’s (A) | Glasgow University (H) | Ardrossan Winton Rovers (H) | Auchinleck Talbot (A) | Renfrew (A) |
| Sat 25th October | Sat 11th October | Sat 4th October | Fri 26th September | Sat 20th September |
| WOSFL Premier | South Challenge Cup R3 | West of Scotland Cup R1 | Scottish Cup R1 | Scottish Communities Cup Round 2 |
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 (nope, still not calling it X yet)
- Team news pre-match
- Goal alerts
- News flashes
- Real time alerts
Make sure you follow our NEW feed!
Match news via the official Troon F.C. Facebook page
- Team news pre-match
- Half-time score & update
- Full time results
All news on the club FIRST via the official Troon F.C. WhatsApp Supporter’s Group chat
- Vote for your Man of the Match
- Info on functions & events
- Book your seat on away buses
- Discuss the match with fellow Troon fans!
Two more excellent matches between the teams last season, and the Seasiders went unbeaten across the two WOSFL Premier Division matches.
HOME MATCH
| Wednesday 14th August 2024 | Match Centre |
| TROON FOOTBALL CLUB | WON | Portland Park |
| CUMNOCK | 2-1 | WOSFL Premier |
The first encounter of 2024-25 was a thrilling encounter in the midweek sunshine at Portland Park.
Dylan Dykes gave the visitors the perfect start, as he fired them into the lead from a narrow angle after only two minutes, before Kyle Gilroy struck a sensational equaliser after 39 minutes.
The second half started at a rapid tempo as Troon pushed for the winner, which eventually came through former Cumnock man Sam Jamieson after Stef McCluskey had seen red shortly after coming on.
AWAY MATCH
| Saturday 22nd February 2025 | Match Centre |
| CUMNOCK | DREW | Townhead Park |
| TROON FOOTBALL CLUB | 2-2 | WOSFL Premier |
The return match in February was to be another fantastic performance at Townhead, the scene of some tremendous encounters between the sides in recent seasons.
That man Jamieson again got a vital goal to get the Seasiders off on the perfect footing with a 6th minute opener, before the home side stabilised themselves & got back on level terms with Dylan Dykes in the 26th minute. Troon got another early goal in the second half through Kyle Gilroy, before Dykes got on the scoresheet again to restore parity. Both sides spurned good chances to secure the 3 points, before both had to settle for a hard-earned point apiece.
(before this week’s matches)
| REFEREE: | ||
| Kieran O’Reilly | ||
| Assistant Referee 1: | Assistant Referee 2: | |
| Sean Welsh | Reiss Paterson |
| Referee Observer: | To be appointed |
Tickets are available at the cash turnstiles at Portland Park:
| Adult: | £10.00 |
| Concession: | £5.00 |
| Under-16: | FREE |
Season Tickets are NOT valid for this game, with it being a Cup match.
You can find out all about the match itself by visiting the match centre both before and 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.
The social club at Portland Park will be open early from 12pm ahead of the 2pm kick-off, and supporters of both clubs are very welcome.
And, indeed, neutrals!
📺 Come early & enjoy the football on the big screen! 📺
| ⏰ 12.30pm | Leicester City v Blackburn Rovers | (Championship) ⚽️ |
| ⏰ 5.30pm | Tottenham Hotspur v Chelsea | (FA Premier League) ⚽️ |
PLEASE NOTE! The bar will close sharp at 6pm, due to a private function in the clubhouse on Saturday night.
Scott will be selling tickets for our half-time draw at the gate before kick-off, and inside the ground throughout the first half for just 50p a ticket.
Our local resident food truck, SCRAN have our hungry supporters covered with their own take on “Football Food” – highly recommended!
They will be open all day on Saturday & will be open til late, selling a variety of hot food & drinks as well as cold drinks.
If you’ve never been to SCRAN before, you really need to watch Blair McNally’s YouTube video after his visit to Portland Park…and SCRAN!
⚽️ Troon F.C. Development Team versus Whitletts Victoria ⚽️
Friday 31st October 2025
WOSFDL Conference E
Kilwinning Sports Club
Kick-off 7.45pm
Head along & support the Troon stars of tomorrow!
⚽️ Troon F.C. versus Largs Thistle ⚽️
Saturday 8th November 2025
WOSFL Premier Division
Portland Park, Troon
Kick-off 2pm