After a brief Cup sojourn, it’s back to League business as we make the shortest away journey of the season to take on our old friends Hurlford United at Blair Park in our 6th GreenVersity WOSFL Premier Division match of the season.
⚽️ Hurlford United versus Troon F.C. ⚽️
Saturday 24th August 2024
GreenVersity WOSFL Premier Division
Blair Park, Hurlford
Kick-off 2pm
It’s the sixth match of the new season already, and it’s three excellent wins & two frustrating defeats so far. But when you add last weekend’s Cup victory into the mix, there has certainly been plenty of positives to keep confidence up & optimism high amongst our supporters!
Saturday’s defeat of Dundonald Bluebell was as satisfying as it was emphatic. An excellent performance from the team, four goals & a clean sheet in front of a healthy travelling support who all enjoyed their day out. Add that to the wins against Cumnock, Darvel & St. Cadoc’s, and 9 points from the opening five matches represents a promising start to the campaign.
Hurlford have taken great delight at upsetting the odds the last few seasons, Manager Darren Henderson never failing to keep his side competitive in an increasingly difficult division. A good start tailed off slightly last season to see them finish in 9th position, whilst 1 win and 2 draws represents a solid start to this campaign.
Here’s everything you need to know ahead of Saturday’s match…
Jimmy Kirkwood’s new look squad is giving him a headache he hasn’t suffered very often in his 15 seasons at Portland Park, as he has an almost fully-fit squad to choose from & that causes selection issues.
Ben Black returned to the pitch as a substitute in each of our last 3 matches and is back in contention to start for us, while Scott McLean featured in a closed doors match against Girvan on Monday night, scoring a wonderful free-kick into the bargain.
Ewan McLevy returns from suspension, and Jaime Gallagher returns from holiday.
What a fantastic day out that was last Saturday in Fife. A brilliant result was the obvious highlight, but the performance for me was the most pleasing aspect. Great to see all the supporters enjoying the day, maybe with the possible exception of Willie Jardine!
I have to say huge credit goes to our excellent coaching staff, they had really done their homework on a strong Dundonald Bluebell side & knew exactly what to expect from them, so everyone went into the match knowing exactly what we were facing. That level of detail & preparation makes us feel like we have a proper advantage going into matches of that importance, and the boys carried out the game plan to perfection.
We’ve made a deliberate effort this season to go with a slightly bigger squad to allow us to compete a little better than in previous seasons. We felt too many times, particularly last season, that we were going into too many big games very under strength & with the league getting tougher every season, we knew that was an area we had to improve on in the summer. Arthurlie away last season was really the match that sticks in the memory; we started that match with 10 fit players, one who wouldn’t have been playing in different circumstances & no fit players on the bench. A massive match for our survival last season, and one the lads really grafted in & ground out an important win, but I was determined we wouldn’t find ourselves in that situation again. You can see already this season the difference that has made, being able to replace Mark Morrison with Gunner last Saturday was a prime example, bring our Club Captain in & he goes on to score a vital goal and finishes runner-up in the supporters MOTM vote. Credit to the players for buying into that as well, might be a little less game time but they hopefully see exactly what we’re doing & are certainly buying into it.
We love a trip to Hurlford, always a warm welcome up there & we like to reciprocate, so a good relationship between the clubs. Darren’s a Manager I know well & have a lot of time for. Always a really challenging encounter between the sides, and rarely much between us. We do owe them one for last season though, we didn’t test them anywhere near enough in either match & that’s a challenge we aim to meet head on this weekend.
Jimmy Kirkwood (Manager)
| Full Name | Hurlford United Football Club |
| Nickname(s) | The ‘Ford |
| Founded | 1912 |
| Ground | Blair Park, Hurlford |
| Capacity | 2,005 |
| Club Secretary | Clark Nicol |
| Manager | Darren Henderson |
| Captain | Paul McKenzie |
| 2023-24 | WOSFL Premier Division, 9th from 16 |
⚽️️ ROSS ROBERTSON ⚽️
He may be 33 now, but Ross is probably in the best shape of his life & he is enjoying a new chapter of his career, which is great to see.
Began his career with Ayr United before a brief spell at Glenafton, he first signed for Hurlford in 2013 alongside Manager Darren Henderson where they lifted the Scottish Junior Cup in 2014. He joined Troon in 2016 but returned for a second spell at Blair Park soon after, and he later joined Maybole after a spell out of the game where he regained his fitness & he returned to the ‘Ford again this summer with a point to prove.
⚽️️ CARTER FREW ⚽️
Still only 22, young Carter has made himself a mainstay of the ‘Ford defence with some seasoned performances ahead of experienced campaigners like Chris Robertson, Craig Reid & Chris McKnight.
Began his career with St. Mirren as a youth, Carter signed on at Blair Park in the summer of 2021 & he has impressed ever since. Comfortable at full-back, but he has established himself at centre-back of late & he is certainly one to watch in the coming years.
© Thanks to Drew Wilson and www.hurlfordunited.com for their photos
Hurlford United
| WON | DREW |