It’s a break from league action this coming weekend, as it’s a start to the Cup competitions for the season! First up is the South Region Challenge Cup and a trip to Fauldhouse United for the first time in a long time.

⚽️ Fauldhouse United versus Troon F.C. ⚽️
Saturday 15th August 2026
South Region Challenge Cup Round 1
Park View, Fauldhouse
Kick-off 2.30pm

Saturday’s match at Clydebank was a frustration. It was the first match this season where we had close to a full squad, and things were looking up when we led 1-0 in the first half. A controversial red card, a penalty & an arguably offside goal later things were looking differently and the injury time goal felt a bitter blow and not something our boys deserved. But looking at the bigger picture, there were plenty of positives to take from it and we look forward to the next batch of matches.

Last season was record breaking for us, most notably with that West of Scotland Cup win in May, but one of the few low points was an early exit from the South Region Challenge Cup. We had a strong 1st round win at Nithsdale Wanderers, but Auchinleck Talbot dished out a straight forward defeat at Portland Park back in September. It would be good to improve on that outcome this season.

Fauldhouse United have been on somewhat of a rebuild in the last few seasons, as they look to get the club back to a position they used to enjoy. There are plenty of good things going on down Fauldhouse way in terms of building the community engagement and the improvement of youth teams, and there are signs of progress definitely being seen. Manager Steven Sharp is leading that progress, but the focus will certainly be on the field this season as they look to push on after a poor finish last year. Mid-table just now, things are looking up.

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

Lack of availability has been a constant issue this season so far, but Saturday saw us getting back to what our full squad should look like.

Summer signing Ben Armour made his competitive debut for the club on Saturday at Clydebank, and showed glimpses of what he can bring to the side this season.

Leyton Dunlop is pushing to return to the side this weekend after missing the last few matches with a groin complaint suffered in the WOSFL Cup match at Auchinleck Talbot and Jack Allan is also hoping to return after being carried from the pitch in the same game following a bad challenge.

Dean Fulton is the only new injury doubt, he has picked up an achilles injury in the last couple of weeks, and was about to be substituted anyway when he was sacrificed following Stephen Bronsky’s sending off.

We do have a couple of injury issues still hanging over from last season. It was great to see Club Captain Mark Morrison taking part in the warm-up on Saturday with the rest of the squad, he is hoping to get the all-clear to return to training when he visits the hospital physio this week following successful hip surgery in the summer. Jack Sherrie is awaiting the pre-op ahead of a date for surgery on his ACL injury.

Cup weekends are always a bit different, and we have a few of those to be looking forward to this season! The Cup was obviously the highlight of our campaign last season, a good Cup run is very much the target again this season.

Fauldhouse United came down to the Portland Cup a few seasons ago and we enjoyed their company, big Chris Mackie was the Manager and they had a right good squad with them that weekend. They had some very good players with them then as well (Chris Lennon, Jack Breen, Declan McDonald and Jordan Moore are the ones that stick in the mind) but we haven’t been up to Park View in my memory, so this will be an interesting new experience for us this weekend.

Clydebank last Saturday was frustrating, we didn’t walk away with what we deserved anyway. We didn’t deserve to be down to 10 men (I was expecting to see the forward get a yellow card, I was shocked to see Bronsky get a red!) but the effort the boys put into the second half was fantastic to see; that commitment and organisation will serve us well in the coming months. Our season won’t be defined by one match away to Clydebank, we all know they’ll be up there at the end of the season, so we now need to take that on to the next few games we’ve got.

I try not to single out individuals, because we have such an outstanding squad and I think that is our strength, but Martin McDonald was just superb for us on Saturday. That is exactly why we targeted him to get him in this summer, I don’t see many better keepers than him around, he is a top notch keeper and I’m delighted to see him performing at the level we expect of him. Good to see Ben Armour making his long-awaited debut as well, I thought he showed a bit in the first half and he’ll be looking to kick on now to start his season.

Hopefully we can get Leyton & Jack back this weekend as well, two of the best players in the league last season and any team would miss them. Take Luke Main and Neill McPherson out of the Talbot side & they wouldn’t play at their best, so it’s not a shock we have maybe not hit the heights we did last season without them.

‘MON THE TROON!!

Jimmy Kirkwood (Team Manager)

Full Name	Fauldhouse United Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Hoose
Founded	1919
Ground	Park View, Fauldhouse
Capacity	2,000
Chairman	Derek Sharp
Manager	Steven Sharp
Captain	Sam Ghoul
2025-26	East of Scotland Football League, Second Division, 14th from 15

⚽️️ SAM GHOUL ⚽️

⚽️️ JAKE MAIRS ⚽️

© Thanks to Fauldhouse United for their photos

8th August	Fauldhouse United	1-4	Luncarty	EOSFL Second Division NW Conference
1st August	Livingston United	2-3	Fauldhouse United	EOSFL Second Division NW Conference
28th July	Fauldhouse United	4-0	Livingston Community	EOSFL Second Division NW Conference
25th July	Fauldhouse United	1-4	Inverkeithing Hillfield Swifts	EOSFL Second Division NW Conference
18th July	Fauldhouse United	4-1	St. Anthony’s	Pre-Season Friendly

8th Aug	Clydebank	3-2	Troon F.C.	Lowland League (West)
1st Aug	Troon F.C.	4-1	Gretna 2008	Lowland League (West)
29th July	Johnstone Burgh	2-0	Troon F.C.	Lowland League (West)
25th July	Pollok	2-0	Troon F.C.	Lowland League (West)
18th July	Auchinleck Talbot	1-0	Troon F.C.	Pre-Season Friendly

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:

A club with a rich history, including lifting the Scottish Junior Cup in 1946, but Fauldhouse had a season to forget last time out.

The Hoose’s season back in the East of Scotland Second Division proved difficult, finishing 14th with six wins, six draws and 16 defeats from 28 matches, finishing only above Stirling University Reserves in a 15 team league. In the East of Scotland Qualifying Cup 1st round, they drew 1-1 with Armadale Thistle before losing 3-2 on penalties. The Alex Jack Cup provided their best run: after beating Kennoway Star Hearts 4-1, they reached the quarter-finals, where Crossgates Primrose won 1-0. In the King Cup, Fauldhouse beat Vale of Leithen before losing 4-1 to Armadale. They exited the League Cup 7-1 to Whitburn.

Last year was a record breaking season for Troon, by any metric; West of Scotland Cup winners, on that amazing day in May, Promotion to tier 5 of Scottish football for the first time in our history, led the Division for a long time before securing a club record highest league finish after guaranteeing a top 3 finish in the WOSFL Premier Division and we achieved our Scottish FA Licence, which will see us take part in the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup for the first time ever this season.

(before this week’s matches)

	REFEREE:
	Roark McShane
Assistant Referee 1:		Assistant Referee 2:
Rhys Struthers		Dean Whitton

Referee Observer:

George Clyde

For travelling supporters, our media team have put together a number of new “Supporter’s Travel Guides” for directions and helpful tips to an away day:

Supporter’s Guide – Fauldhouse (Park View)

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.

 Troon F.C. versus Renfrew 
Wednesday 19th August 2026
Scottish Lowland Football League (West)
Portland Park, Troon
Kick-off 7.45pm