It’s the home run, and it’s the last of three home matches in a week to bring season 2022-23 to a close. This Saturday, we welcome local rivals Irvine Meadow to Portland Park for the 30th and final WOSFL Premier Division match of the season.
⚽️ Troon F.C. versus Irvine Meadow XI ⚽️
Saturday 13th May 2023
PDM Buildbase WOSFL Premier Division
Portland Park, Troon
Kick-off 2pm
Troon come into Saturday’s game in positive mood after Wednesday’s home win against Kilwinning Rangers. A game with maybe not a lot to play for in some people’s eyes, but a very professional performance from the players & a good result.
Jimmy Kirkwood’s men have had an excellent season over the piece, despite some up & down moments in the middle, and they are looking to secure a strong finish to the league campaign.
Irvine Meadow have had the ultimate in roller coaster seasons! A poor start to the season saw them skirt the relegation zone & led to the departure of Co-Managers Colin Spence & James Latta, before George Grierson came in & saw a remarkable rally and a climb to second in the table. His shock resignation after only 5 months in February saw his former Assistant Kev Deeney appointed as Manager, but after an initial bounce of 3 wins on the spin a combination of injuries & suspensions have seen a gradual slip in league position as the focus moves to next season.
Here’s everything you need to know ahead of Saturday’s match…
Jaime Gallagher was a very welcome returnee on Wednesday, fresh from a two match suspension, while we were delighted to see Ben Black return after being stretchered off against Auchinleck Talbot and getting stitches in a knee wound.
Raymond Montgomerie remains out with an ankle injury which has ended his season, and he has been joined on the side lines by Stephen Wilson who tore ankle ligaments at Cambuslang Rangers.
Difficult position maybe for the players on Wednesday, but I thought we handled it perfectly. We weren’t at the races at all in the first half, to be in 2-0 at the break probably flattered us, and I wasn’t surprised to see Kilwinning come storming out after half-time. How we handled that though was very pleasing, showed real togetherness to fight back & then showed our quality to score two very good goals in the end to secure the three points.
Only really league position to play for on Saturday, but that’s something we want to be showing we want to fight for. We had a really poor middle stretch of the season (which was when we played Meadow last time) so to secure a top half finish, and maybe even a top six, would represent a good achievement for the squad this season.
I’d like to thank our supporters for their magnificent support throughout the campaign – our support has really grown and stuck by us since we came back from Covid, and the young team in particular really showed their worth on Wednesday night celebrating the fourth goal with Sam & the boys. Really good times about Troon just now & that’s exactly what we want to build on this summer.
Jimmy Kirkwood (Manager)
| Full Name | Irvine Meadow XI Football Club |
| Nickname(s) | The Medda |
| Founded | 1897 |
| Ground | Meadow Park, Irvine |
| Capacity | 2,132 (700 seated) |
| President | Robert Jeffrey |
| Manager | Kevin Deeney |
| Captain | Kyle Faulds |
| 2021-22 | WOSFL Premier Division, 8th from 20 |
⚽️️ LOUIS KERR ⚽️
A friendly face at Portland Park, Louis signed for Medda from Whitletts in October to re-join his former Manager George Grierson.
A forward thinking midfielder, most often from the “number 10” position, Louis replaced Michael Wardrope as the creative force in the Medda engine room.
⚽️️ CONNOR BOYD ⚽️
25 year old Connor has been a revelation since signing up at Meadow Park in the summer of 2020 from the amateur ranks.
Connor spent his formative years in the Kilmarnock Pro-Youth set-up, before spending time at Drongan United and more recently Hurlford Thistle.
His goals will be ever more vital to the Medda cause, following the departure of talisman Callum Graham to Clydebank last week.
Troon F.C.
| WON | v | Kilwinning Rangers | (H) | 4-2 | Wednesday 10th May | WOSFL Premier Division |
| LOST | v | Cumnock | (H) | 0-3 | Saturday 6th May | WOSFL Premier Division |
| WON | v | Cambuslang Rangers | (A) | 1-2 | Saturday 29th April | WOSFL Premier Division |
| WON | v | Beith | (A) | 0-4 | Saturday 22nd April | WOSFL Premier Division |
| DREW | v | Auchinleck Talbot | (A) | 1-1 | Wednesday 12th April | WOSFL Premier Division |
Irvine Meadow XI
| DREW | v | Clydebank | (H) | 2-2 | Wednesday 10th May | WOSFL Premier Division |
| LOST | v | Auchinleck Talbot | (H) | 1-3 | Saturday 6th May | WOSFL Premier Division |
| LOST | v | Cumnock | (A) | 2-1 | Saturday 22nd April | WOSFL Premier Division |
| LOST | v | Beith | (H) | 1-2 | Friday 7th April | WOSFL Premier Division |
| WON | v | Kirkintilloch Rob Roy | (A) | 0-1 | Saturday 1st April | WOSFL Premier Division |
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: @Troon_FC
- 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
Irvine Meadow certainly had the better of the two encounters last season, lifting the maximum 6 points from our league matches in 2021-22.
In a tight first encounter of last season at Meadow Park, Troon saw multiple opportunities to take the lead spurned before two late strikes from Jamie Whyte & Mick Wardrope utilised Fraser McMillan’s long throw to see the home side claim the three points.
The return match in May was ultimately a bit of a dead rubber as the last game of the season, but an exciting 2-1 was served up with goals from Connor Boyd, Jamie Martin & a reply from Sam Jamieson.
(before this week’s matches)
| Referee: | Gary Hanvidge |
| Assistant Referee: | Ewan Dunn |
| Assistant Referee: | Lauren Whitehead |
| Referee Observer: | To be appointed |
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.
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 11am 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 | Rangers v Celtic | (Scottish Premiership) ⚽️ |
| ⏰ 3pm | Bolton Wanderers v Barnsley | (EFL League One Play-Off, 1st leg) ⚽️ |
| ⏰ 5.30pm | Sunderland v Luton Town | (EFL Championship Play-Off, 1st leg) ⚽️ |
| ⏰ 7.45pm | Salford City v Stockport County | (EFL League Two Play-Off, 1st leg) ⚽️ |
The bar will close before midnight.
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.
⚽️ Troon Development Team versus Arthurlie ⚽️
Friday 12th May 2023
Sense over Sectarianism Scottish Lowland Development Football League (West Conference F)
QMA Sports Campus, Ayr
Kick-off 8pm
Head along & support the Troon stars of tomorrow!
🏆 Player Of The Year Awards Night 🏆
Saturday 20th May 2023
Portland Park Social Club, Troon