Largs Thistle Match Preview – Troon Football Club

It’s the second home game in a week, as our league campaign is well and truly underway. This Saturday, we welcome fellow Seasiders Largs to Portland Park for our 3rd WOSFL Premier Division match of the season.

⚽️ Troon F.C. versus Largs Thistle ⚽️
Saturday 5th August 2023
PDM Huws Gray WOSFL Premier Division
Portland Park, Troon
Kick-off 2pm

It’s six points out of six for the new season so far, but the Seasiders will see the visit of our bogey team Largs as the ultimate test to that good start. Will it be history repeating, or a monkey off our back?

Troon come into this weekend’s game in positive mood after an opening day Ayrshire derby win over Irvine Meadow and Tuesday’s 3-1 win away to Glenafton Athletic. Two strong performances, following on from a positive pre-season, which will give the supporters hope for the long season ahead.

Life is rosy up at Barrfields just now! 6th placed finish in the Premier Division last season, Manager Stuart Davidson signed on a new contract until 2025 and a young & hungry squad settled for the new campaign.

They opened with a creditable draw at Division new boys Gartcairn last Saturday before a 3-1 defeat to Darvel on Wednesday, but they will still have confidence of a win on the road.

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

Summer recruits Nicky Docherty & Mark Shankland both scored their first competitive goals for the club in Tuesday’s win, and fellow summer signing Chris Millar is looking to play a part on Saturday after shaking off a niggle sustained in pre-season. Logan Smith missed Tuesday’s win at Glenafton as a precaution after being forced off early on Saturday with a knock, but he is hopeful of playing a part this weekend.

Jack Sherrie 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.

We’re absolutely delighted with the start to our league campaign, I don’t think we could have asked for more in terms of points. The players are getting stronger with each game & our new signings have gelled really well. A lot of what we have seen from the team so far is exactly what we have spoken about in pre-season, so we are really pleased with the mentality they have shown.

We want to turn our fortunes against Largs. They are a very tricky side to play; honest, hard working & well coached. It’ll be another marker of where we are at if we can get the 3 points.

The players are very grateful for the support they received last week in the Irvine Meadow match, it was great to see so many coming out to see the first game. Travelling support away to Glenafton was decent too. It makes a huge difference, and hopefully will be the same again this weekend.

Dean Keenan (Assistant Manager)

Full Name	Largs Thistle Football Club
Nickname(s)	Theesel
Founded	1889
Ground	Barrfields, Largs
Capacity	4,500
Chairman	Alistair McMaster
Manager	Stuart Davidson
Captain	Stuart Faulds
2022-23	WOSFL Premier Division, 6th from 16

⚽️️ STUART FAULDS ⚽️

A hugely underrated member of this Largs side, Stuart is an excellent midfielder & offers great protection to the defence.

Following the departure of several key players from Largs’ Scottish Junior Cup Final appearance of 2019, Stuart’s importance to this side is increasingly apparent & he leads by example as Club Captain.

⚽️️ WILL SEWELL ⚽️

A product of the youth system at Largs, Will’s 42 goals last season led to a big-money move to Stenhousemuir in the summer.

The 25 year old returned to Barrfields at the start of March, and has already struck up a great partnership with David Ramsay. His strength, direct running & great eye for a goal makes him the club’s dangerman, and he leads the line with distinction.

© Thanks to Ryan Scott Photography and Largs Thistle for their images

Troon F.C.

WON	WON	DREW	WON	WON
1-3	2-1	1-1	0-2	1-0
Glenafton Athletic	Irvine Meadow XI	Ayr United (H)	Glenrothes (A)	Maybole (H)
Tue 1^st August	Sat 22^nd July	Sat 22^nd July	Sat 15^th July	Weds 12^th July
WOSFL Premier	WOSFL Premier	Dean Keenan Benefit	Colin Kinnes Cup	Stuart McGrady Memorial

Largs Thistle

LOST	DREW	WON	WON	WON
1-3	1-1	3-0	3-1	5-0
Darvel (H)	Gartcairn (H)	Kilbirnie Ladeside (H)	Irvine Victoria (H)	Dalry Thistle (H)
Wed 2^nd August	Sat 29^th July	Sat 22^nd July	Sat 15^th July	Wed 12^th July
WOSFL Premier	WOSFL Premier	Pre-Season Friendly	Pre-Season Friendly	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:

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

Largs Thistle had the better of the two encounters last season, lifting the maximum 6 points from our league matches in 2022-23 by the odd goal in each game.

In a tight first encounter of last season at Barrfields, a really hard-fought encounter looked to be playing out to a draw, only for the towering Connor McGoldrick to power home an injury time winner to send Troon heading home deflated.

The return match in March under the Portland Park floodlights was yet another close encounter. Sam Jamieson cancelled out Scott Adam’s opener after Dean Fulton had seen red early on, only for Laurie McMaster’s winner to be the difference between the sides.

(before this week’s matches)

	Match Referee:
Assistant Referee 1:	Paul Timmons	Assistant Referee 2:
Graham Cameron		Stephen Hamilton

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 turnstiles at Portland Park:

Adult:	£8.00
Concession:	£4.00
Under-16:	FREE

Season Tickets are valid for this game.

Season Tickets can also be purchased inside the clubhouse before the match, and can be paid by cash or by debit/credit card.

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.

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 & stay late – enjoy the football on the big screen! 📺

⏰ 12.30pm	Celtic v Ross County	(Scottish Premiership) ⚽️
⏰ 5.15pm	Kilmarnock v Rangers	(Scottish Premiership) ⚽️

The bar will close after the 5.15pm televised 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.