Drumchapel United Match Preview – Troon Football Club

The big matches just keep coming, and this weekend we welcome a new visitor to Portland Park in the shape of Drumchapel United for our 20th GreenVersity WOSFL Premier Division match of the season.

⚽️ Troon F.C. versus Drumchapel United ⚽️
Saturday 15th March 2025
GreenVersity WOSFL Premier Division
Portland Park, Troon
Kick-off 2pm

Seven points out of nine so far in a massively important month for the Seasiders, the latest being the magnificent 5-0 win away at the Champions Beith in an imperious display. But, it’s a marathon & not a sprint with all the fixtures coming our way! Saturday’s result saw us rise to 2nd position in the Premier Division table behind Clydebank, but with 7 matches in 4 weeks there are sure to be many ups & downs before we see April.

Drumchapel swept all before them last season, lifting the WOSFL First Division Championship after being denied promotion on the last day of last season by 1 agonising point at St. Cadoc’s. With a raft of experience & know-how in their squad, they have taken to their maiden Premier Division campaign like a duck to water and, after a comfortable 2-0 victory at the Donald Dewar in September, they will come down to the Ayrshire riviera full of confidence.

Here’s everything you need to know ahead of Saturday’s match…

It’s a standard injury picture for this stage of the season, a few wee niggles throughout the squad with one or two missing out for various reasons.

Sam Jamieson continues his recuperation after a horrible looking injury against Shotts which tore off half his ear. 18 hours waiting at hospital & 14 stitches later, we’re glad to say he’s on the mend now & will be back in a Troon shirt soon!

Nathan Baird missed last Saturday with a calf strain, but should be back in contention this weekend, while Jack Sherrie is awaiting news on surgery for a hernia. Grant Brennan has joined Thorniewood on loan til the end of the season.

Of our long-term absences, Ewan McLevy has received good news that he does not require surgery on his knee injury, and he is now into his rehab which will see him eventually return to the side.

Scott McLean undergoes surgery on Friday for his knee reconstruction, and he has all of our best wishes as he enters the road to recovery.

A new opponent to welcome to Portland Park this weekend in Drumchapel, never been to Troon before & only ever faced them once in our league match in September. I have to say, I was impressed with the set-up & their plans for the future when we visited, and they were an excellent side who deservedly won 2-0. That gives us something to avenge though, but it will be a difficult challenge against an experienced side, that’s for sure.

Saturday was very satisfying, you have to be happy to score 5 goals & keep a clean sheet away to the Champions. Beith have had a tough couple of weeks, but I thought it was all about us & we were excellent to a man, all across the park. Great to finish the game with a side including 6 players aged under 21, real positive sign that we are really bringing young players through at the club.

Special mention for our own Scott McLean, who goes under the knife on Friday for knee surgery. Been a season of frustration for Scotty, but we’ve all seen the quality that he can bring to the side before he got injured, so we have that to look forward to when he makes his comeback. When that will be we’re not sure at this stage, all I can say with any certainty is he is NOT a size 14 shoe.

Jimmy Kirkwood (Manager)

Full Name	Drumchapel United Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Drum
Founded	2001
Ground	The Donald Dewar Centre, Drumchapel
Capacity	1,000
Club Secretary	William Chisholm
Co-Managers	John Black & Adam Hopes
Captain	Martin Orr
2023-24	WOSFL First Division Champions, 1st from 16

⚽️️ MARTIN McNIFF ⚽️

The 33 year old is a rock at the back for the Drum, using all of his experience to marshal the back line & dominate opposition forwards.

Began his career with Dumbarton as a 17 year old schoolboy, before a spell with Annan Athletic in League Two. He moved to Clyde in 2016 and made 140 appearances for the Bully Wee, even getting a place in the Team of the Year in 2018-19. He moved to the Drum in 2023 after a second spell at Dumbarton.

⚽️️ DAVID HOPKIRK ⚽️

Hopkirk was hot property as a youngster, coming through the famed Hamilton Academical youth policy and made his debut in the SPFL in 2010 as a 17 year old before trials with West Brom, Ipswich and Cardiff.

Joined Drumchapel in 2023 after a stellar career including spells at Hearts, Queen of the South, Dunfermline, Derry City, Clyde, Dumbarton & Stenhousemuir. The 32 year old is the second top goalscorer in the WOSFL this season, behind Clydebank’s Nicky Little, with 12 goals.

© Thanks to Ross Currie Photography and Drumchapel United for their photos

Troon F.C.

WON	DREW	WON	DREW	WON
0-5	0-0	2-1	2-2	7-2
Beith (A)	Shotts (H)	Hurlford (H)	Cumnock (A)	St. Cadoc’s (H)
Sat 8th March	Wed 5th March	Sat 1st March	Sat 22nd February	Wed 19th February
WOSFL Premier	WOSFL Premier	WOSFL Premier	WOSFL Premier	WOSFL Premier

Drumchapel United

WON	WON	LOST	WON	WON
2-0	0-1	2-0	0-4	3-0
Glenafton (H)	Cumnock (A)	Largs (A)	Clydebank (H)	Benburb (H)
Sat 8th March	Sat 1st March	Sat 22nd February	Tues 18th February	Saturday 15th February
WOSFL Premier	WOSFL Premier	WOSFL Cup QF	WOSFL Premier	Scottish Junior Cup QF

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 BRAND NEW official Troon F.C. Twitter feed (I’m 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!

Drumchapel United finished top of the pile in the WOSFL First Division 2023-24, crowned Champions after a season long tussle with Shotts Bon Accord for the title, from a very competitive league including Rutherglen, Ashfield, Petershill, Kilwinning and many more strong sides.

Troon finished 12th in the 16 team WOSFL Premier Division 2023-24 last season; a promising start quickly hit the buffers, before a strong finish secured safety & actually ended up in a little disappointment that we didn’t finish higher. A South Challenge Cup Quarter-Final appearance was a boost, but we were knocked out by eventual finalists Kirkintilloch Rob Roy.

(before this week’s matches)

	REFEREE:
	Steven MacDonald
Assistant Referee 1:		Assistant Referee 2:
Calum Haswell		Matthew Denne

Referee Observer:

To be appointed

For travelling supporters, have a look at our “How to get to Portland Park” page for directions and helpful tips:

How to get to Portland Park

Tickets are available at the cash turnstiles at Portland Park:

Adult:	£9.00
Concession:	£5.00
Under-16:	FREE

Season Tickets are valid for this game.

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	Bolton Wanderers v Stockport County	(FA League One) ⚽️
⏰ 5.30pm	Bournemouth v Brentford	(FA Premier League) ⚽️

The bar will likely close after the conclusion of the 5.30pm match.

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 from 10am on Saturday & will be open right through the match til the evening, selling a variety of hot food & drinks as well as cold drinks.