Gartcairn Match Preview – Troon Football Club

It’s a first ever trip for the old vengabus to Airdrie for the Seasider’s this weekend, as we visit our new friends Gartcairn for our 18th WOSFL Premier Division match of the season.

⚽️ Gartcairn versus Troon F.C.⚽️
Saturday 17th February 2024
PDM Huws Gray WOSFL Premier Division
MTC Park, Airdrie
Kick-off 2pm

Inconsistency may have plagued Troon earlier in the season, but some delicate surgery to the squad has given Manager Jimmy Kirkwood cause for optimism with us now into the second half of the season. An improvement in league form has all focus on securing the points that will push us up the table to safety, and maybe even more with the carrot of a South Challenge Cup Quarter Final match to look forward to.

Gartcairn have had a season of two halves already (and the season is only just past the halfway stage!) but they come into this weekend sitting comfortably in the top six, 9 points ahead of their visitors (albeit with 2 more games played). Having been rock-bottom in September, they have had quite the resurgence since then to reach the heights of 4th in November. The excellent mid-season recruitment of Ian McShane & Thomas Reilly from Darvel have certainly helped, as the Airdrie side look to secure their place in the top tier.

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

There’s a real feelgood atmosphere around the squad just now, with most of our missing players returning to training after injury and a number of our squad committing their future to the club with extended contracts.

Logan Smith joined Kyle Gilroy, Mark Shankland, Leyton Dunlop, Jack Sherrie, Ewan McLevy, Sam McCloskey, Ben Black & Dale Burgess in putting pen to paper on extended contracts, which is a massive boost for the side going into an important part of this season.

Ewan McLevy was the latest to make his return to the park at the weekend, leaving only Chris Millar (hamstring) and Nicky Docherty (knee) missing through injury, despite a few wee knocks & niggles.

Fantastic few weeks to be a Troon supporter, with some good wins & a fair few goals to show for it as well. The performances have been key, the players have really gelled the last few weeks & you can see they are really giving everything for each other just now, which is great for us all to see. It’s got to be the bare minimum we ask from any Troon side, and we’re certainly getting it in spades just now. Starting XI, boys coming off the bench, it really is a pleasure to be part of just now. But we can’t get carried away with a few games, it needs to become the story of our season and not just be a snapshot. We still need more.

Big challenge for us this weekend, Gartcairn have been going great guns, but it’s a challenge we’ve shown we are capable of with our recent form. The surface will suit Gartcairn, but it isn’t something we should be afraid of either. Our form on the road last season was good, and our home form has been much better of late in front of our home supporters. If we can level those two out we’ll finish strongly, but we’ll need to be on our game to get anything this week that’s for sure.

Gartcairn are a club we have only faced once before in competitive action, at Portland in a West of Scotland Cup tie a few seasons ago, but they’ve made great strides since then. I know Richard speaks very highly of the guys behind the scenes, certainly seems like a club going places. They’ve recruited some excellent players this season as well as last, but we’ve seen them play a few times recently & have an idea what they’re about. Gives us the best chance possible.

And lastly, I’d like to give a mention to big Scott Byrnes this week, who recently suffered the loss of his wife Margaret. A man we all have an awful lot of time for, a man who has done so much for the club over the years & somebody we should be looking after at this difficult time. I spoke to him at length last Saturday before our match against Beith & he was holding up really well, but I’m sure all of our thoughts are with him just now.

Jimmy Kirkwood (Manager)

Full Name	Gartcairn Football Academy
Nickname(s)	The ‘Cairn
Founded	2007 (2015 as a senior side)
Ground	MTC Park, Airdrie
Capacity	1,000
Chairman	Martin Peacock
Manager	Michael Dunlop
Captain	Kevin Nicol
2022-23	Champions WOSFL First Division, 1st from 16

⚽️️ MARK McGUIGAN ⚽️

The towering target man has been a revelation for the Cairn this season, with 7 league goals at the halfway stage & a good number of assists in the bag as well.

Began his career in Celtic’s youth teams, he has enjoyed a stellar career in senior football with Partick Thistle, Albion Rovers, Stranraer & a six year spell at Stenhousemuir before his move to MTC Park.

⚽️️ IAN McSHANE ⚽️

Gartcairn really marked their arrival amongst the big boys when they announced the signing of former Premier Division star McShane from Darvel in October.

A product of the Queen of the South youth academy, 31 year-old Ian has had a superb career with the likes of Ross County, St. Mirren and Falkirk.

Darvel pulled off a real coup when they signed the midfielder in the summer of 2020, fending off interest from clubs higher up the pyramid.

© Thanks to Rogue Monkey Digital Media and Gartcairn for their photos

Gartcairn

WON	DREW	WON	DREW	LOST
0-1	2-2	4-3	3-3	0-1
Clydebank (A)	St. Cadoc’s (A)	Glenafton (H)	Benburb (H)	Cumnock (H)
Sat 10th February	Sat 3rd February	Sat 27th January	Sat 13th January	Fri 29th December
WOSFL Premier	WOSFL Premier	WOSFL Premier	WOSFL Premier	WOSFL Premier

Troon F.C.

WON	WON	DREW	LOST	LOST
3-2	3-0	2-2	3-2	0-2
Beith (H)	Caledonian Braves (H)	Cumnock (H)	Auchinleck Talbot (A)	Hurlford United (H)
Sat 10th February	Sat 3rd February	Sat 13th January	Sat 6th January	Fri 29th December
WOSFL Premier	South Challenge Cup	WOSFL Premier	WOSFL Premier	WOSFL Premier

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

All news on the club FIRST via the official Troon F.C. WhatsApp channel

Team news pre-match
Half-time score & update
Full time results
Info on functions & events
Book your seat on away buses

Gartcairn edged out rivals St. Cadoc’s by just the solitary one point to lift the WOSFL First Division 2022-23 trophy, which saw them make a first ever appearance in the Premier Division this season. Only eight years after they first entered the then SJFA run league, with some fanfare following the inclusion of former Hibernian star Tam McManus in their ranks, they have climbed to the top tier of the WOSFL with great ambitions for the future.

Troon finished 11th in the 16 team WOSFL Premier Division 2022-23 last season; a great start was marred by a mid-season drop, before a strong finish secured safety & actually ended up in a little disappointment that we didn’t finish higher.

(before this week’s matches)

	REFEREE:
	Thomas Denholm
Assistant Referee 1:		Assistant Referee 2:
Jack Arbuckle		Stephen Clyne

Referee Observer:

To be appointed

For travelling supporters, follow the Google Map below for directions to MTC Park.

🚌 𝗦𝗨𝗣𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗦 𝗕𝗨𝗦 🚌

The supporters bus to Airdrie will leave Portland Park at 12pm on Saturday. Contact Billy Inglis on: 07957 539491 to reserve your seat.

🚍 𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗩𝗘𝗟 𝗕𝗬 𝗕𝗨𝗦 🚏

To plan your journey from Troon to Airdrie, visit the “Journey Planner” section of Stagecoach’s website.

🔗 STAGECOACH.com

🚝 𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗩𝗘𝗟 𝗕𝗬 𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗜𝗡 🚉

For train times from Troon to Airdrie, or to book tickets, visit Scotrail’s website.

🔗 SCOTRAIL.co.uk

Tickets are available at the turnstiles at MTC Park:

Adult:	£8.00
Concession:	£5.00
Under 16:	FREE

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.