It’s Cup weekend two of two for October, and it’s back to home comforts as we welcome our WOSFL counterparts Glasgow United to Portland Park for our Scottish Junior Cup 3rd round match.

⚽️ Troon F.C. versus Glasgow United ⚽️
Saturday 19th October 2024
Back Onside Scottish Junior Cup Round 3
Portland Park, Troon
Kick-off 2.30pm

We’re now nine league matches into the new season, and it’s a respectable six wins and three defeats to our record so far. Given our slow start to the campaigns in the last two seasons (it took us until mid-February to register 18 points last season), it represents a solid improvement with us sitting in 3rd position in the league. Encouraging, absolutely, but still plenty of big games to come & a lot of hard work ahead of us.

Last weekend’s win at St. Roch’s was very convincing, after an excellent first half display saw us 3-0 up and the tie wrapped up by the interval at a very difficult place to go, which shows the confidence in the squad right now. They also proved that complacency isn’t a factor with 90 minutes of hard graft against a side who have been flying this season, especially in front of their own supporters.

Glasgow United are one of the West’s form teams, with 4 wins out of their last 5 matches in all competitions. We haven’t played each other for a number of years, since back in their Shettleston days, but the 1959 Scottish Junior Cup finalists will visit the seaside full of confidence after dismissing Bridge of Don Thistle in the last round.

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

Ewan McLevy is a concern after limping off after a heavy challenge in the first half of last Saturday’s win at St. Roch’s, and he’ll be assessed by Darrell as the week continues. Scott McLean also misses out.

Jack Sherrie is edging closer to a return to full training after 6 weeks out with an ankle injury, and he was a welcome sight to supporters as he got involved in the pre-match preparations last Saturday. It’s hoped to see him back in action in the next couple of weeks.

It’s back to the big Cup this weekend, and it’s been a fair while since we welcomed Hugh Kelly & his side to Portland Park. They’ll be a hell of a challenge, we had them watched at Irvine Victoria a couple of weeks ago & they’re a far better side than their league position so we’ll have to be on top form to progress.

Last weekend’s performance was extremely satisfying, it really felt like a lot of hard work & preparation really came to fruition at just the right time. Andy & the boys had really done their homework on the opposition, the boys were fully prepared for what they were walking into & their attitude was absolutely spot on. Right from kick-off, they were right at it & should probably have been more than 3-0 up at the break, in all honesty. All credit to the players, but that needs to be repeated every single week and then we’ll see where we can go. Focus will always be on the next game, every single time without question.

A special mention goes to everyone’s favourite Hebridean John MacKenzie, who took a tumble on his way to last Saturday’s match at St. Roch’s. He’ll be sore for a few weeks I’m sure, but it’ll be no time at all before he’s back at Portland shouting about some kind of diver!

Jimmy Kirkwood (Manager)

Full Name	Glasgow United Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Town
Founded	1903 (as Shettleston Juniors)
Ground	Greenfield Park, Shettleston
Capacity	1,800
President	Hugh Kelly
Manager	Hugh Kelly
Captain	Daniel Irvine
2023-24	WOSFL Third Division, 9th of 16

⚽️️ DAVID GOODWILLIE ⚽️

It’s impossible to talk about Glasgow United without mentioning David Goodwillie.

Whichever side you are on in the non-football discussion, one thing is beyond debate – he is a magnificent footballer who is capable of settling any match at our level all on his own.

He may be 35 now, but the former Dundee United, Blackburn & Scotland striker is the top man for United with a whopping 47 goals to his name last season alone.

⚽️️ DANIEL IRVINE ⚽️

A key component of the side who won the League One championship title in 2019-20, Daniel is now Club Captain & the beating heart of the side.

The former St. Roch’s man is equally comfortable in defence or midfield, where his tough tackling & all-action style drives the side on.

© Thanks to Glasgow United for their photos

Troon F.C.

WON	WON	WON	WON	WON
1-3	4-1	3-2	2-12	1-0
St. Roch’s (A)	Beith (H)	Benburb (H)	Dufftown (A)	Dunbar (H)
Sat 12th October	Sat 5th October	Sat 28th September	Sat 21st September	Sat 14th September
South Challenge Cup R3	WOSFL Premier	WOSFL Premier	Scottish Junior Cup R2	South Challenge Cup R2

Glasgow United

WON	WON	LOST	WON	WON
6-5 (AET)	1-4	1-5	0-2	1-3
Forth Wanderers (H)	Irvine Victoria (A)	Glenvale (H)	Bridge of Don Thistle (A)	Edinburgh United (A)
Sat 12th October	Sat 5th October	Sat 28th September	Sat 21st September	Sat 14th September
South Challenge Cup R3	WOSFL Third Division	WOSFL Third Division	Scottish Junior Cup R2	South Challenge Cup R2

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

Glasgow United entered the WOSFL Third Division at the start of last season after their relegation from the Second Division the previous season, and they endured a frustrating season before eventually settling in ninth position in the hugely competitive 16 team league. Their 50% win record would have seen them finish much higher up the league in previous seasons, but they had to settle for mid-table given the nature of the league last term.

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:
	Chris McLaughlin
Assistant Referee 1:		Assistant Referee 2:
Jonathan Rose		David Flanigan

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 NOT 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	Tottenham Hotspur v West Ham United	(FA Premier League) ⚽️
⏰ 5.30pm	Bournemouth v Arsenal	(FA Premier League) ⚽️

The bar will likely close following 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.