Glenafton Athletic Match Preview – Troon Football Club

Typical – you wait ages for a competitive match, then two come along in the space of three days!

Our first away day of the season arrives on Tuesday, when we head to New Cumnock & Loch Park, home of Glenafton Athletic.

⚽️ Glenafton Athletic versus Troon F.C. ⚽️
Tuesday 1st August 2023
PDM Scotland WOSFL Premier Division
Loch Park, New Cumnock
Kick-off 7.30pm

The new season started in the best possible way for both of Tuesday’s teams, with both sides winning 2-1 on opening day – Troon at home to Irvine Meadow XI, the Glens away to Darvel.

Troon have had a positive pre-season, beating Stewarton, Glenrothes & Maybole and draws against Hutchison Vale & Ayr United. The side looked solid & only conceded 1 goal in 5 matches, scoring 10 in the process.

With some good form in the second half of last season, and with some consistency in terms of the playing squad from last season, Jimmy Kirkwood’s men will have a quiet confidence about the upcoming campaign. Especially with the shrewd additions of Nicky Docherty, Blair Richardson, Chris Millar & Mark Shankland.

Glenafton have also had a near perfect pre-season, with wins over St. Roch’s, Lugar Boswell Thistle, Threave Rovers, Maybole & Whitletts Victoria. Saturday’s win will only have given them more confidence.

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

Summer recruits Nicky Docherty & Mark Shankland made their competitive debuts for Troon in Saturday’s win, and fellow summer signing Chris Millar is looking to play a part on Tuesday night after shaking off a niggle sustained in pre-season. Logan Smith had to come off early on Saturday with a knock, but he is expected to play a part but Aaron Boyd is away on holiday.

Raymond Montgomerie is continuing his rehabilitation from ankle surgery at the end of last season, and he completed his first 90 minutes for the Development Team last weekend. He will soon be back in contention, but no other major concerns apart from that.

Perfect start to the season on Saturday, but we’ll not be getting carried away with one win that’s for sure.

Saturday was a proper Ayrshire derby, and I think we all enjoyed it. All the ingredients you would expect of that fixture, with some solid challenges, a wee bit of handbags here & there and no shortage of commitment from anyone. To come out on top in that environment is very pleasing, and it shows we can win a game in more than one manner which is what we were looking to see from our side this season. To do well, that is exactly what we need to be showing across the 30 league matches. That’s only 1 down, long way to go.

We love a trip to Glenafton, always a warm welcome up there & we like to reciprocate, so a good relationship between the clubs. We had a good record against them last season, we’ll be looking to keep that going as much as Glenafton will be looking to right that.

Here’s hoping we get a good travelling support this week, it makes a huge difference.

Jimmy Kirkwood (Manager)

Full Name	Glenafton Athletic Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Glens, The Afton
Founded	1930
Ground	Loch Park, New Cumnock
Capacity	3,400
President	John Stewart
Manager	Ryan Stevenson
Captain	Craig Pettigrew
2022-23	WOSFL Premier Division, 10th from 16

⚽️️ PAUL PATON ⚽️

The 36 year old former Northern Ireland international was quite a coup for Glenafton when they brought him in from Dumbarton last season.

Began his career with Queens Park before a stellar career with Partick Thistle, Dundee United, St. Johnstone, Plymouth Argyle, East Kilbride & Airdrie. A genuine leader & adds a real touch of class to the side.

⚽️️ GARY FRASER ⚽️

A player who burst onto the scene as a teenager, Gary is still only 29.

Burst onto the scene with Hamilton, before a move south to Dougie Freedman’s Bolton Wanderers. Alan Archibald brought Gary back north to Partick Thistle in 2013 for a five year spell, before moves to Morton, Forfar & Cowdenbeath. A three year spell at Peterhead saw a friendship with Si Ferry, and he was one of the first signings for Open Goal Broomhill where he spent last season before joining Glenafton in July.

Glenafton Athletic

WON	WON	WON	WON	WON
1-2	1-0	2-1	0-3	1-3
Darvel (A)	Whitletts Victoria (A)	Maybole (H)	Threave Rovers (A)	Lugar BT (A)
Sat 29^th July	Sat 22^nd July	Tue 18^th July	Sat 15^th July	Tue 11^th July
WOSFL Premier	Friendly	Friendly	Friendly	Friendly

Troon F.C.

WON	DREW	WON	WON	DREW
2-1	1-1	0-2	1-0	0-0
Irvine Meadow XI (H)	Ayr United (H)	Glenrothes (A)	Maybole (H)	Hutchison Vale (A)
Sat 29^th July	Sat 22^nd July	Sat 15^th July	Weds 12^th July	Sat 8^th July
WOSFL Premier	Dean Keenan Benefit	Colin Kinnes Cup	Stuart McGrady Memorial	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:

Live updates from the official Troon F.C. Twitter feed:

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

Troon had the better of the two encounters last season, lifting the maximum six points.

In a close first encounter of last season at Loch Park, Troon took a 1-0 victory thanks to a Stephen Wilson strike in a tousy encounter that saw a flurry of yellow cards issued.

The return match in February was a very different affair. Troon began a tremendous run of form in the latter part of the season with a resounding 3-0 win at Portland Park thanks to goals from Sam Jamieson, Jaime Gallagher & Kyle Gilroy.

(before this week’s matches)

Assistant Referee 1:	REFEREE:	Assistant Referee 2:
Nicolas Speirs	Ross Menzies	Gary Robertson

Referee Observer:

To be appointed

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

🚌 𝗦𝗨𝗣𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗦 𝗕𝗨𝗦 🚌

Due to the close proximity, there will be no official supporter’s bus this week.

🚍 𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗩𝗘𝗟 𝗕𝗬 𝗕𝗨𝗦 🚏

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

🔗 STAGECOACH.com

🚝 𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗩𝗘𝗟 𝗕𝗬 𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗜𝗡 🚉

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

🔗 SCOTRAIL.co.uk

Tickets are available at the turnstiles at Loch Park:

Adult:	£8.00
Concession:	£5.00

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.