Irvine Meadow XI Match Preview – Troon Football Club

It’s local derby time, as we head to Meadow Park to take on our old rivals Irvine Meadow XI for our 22nd WOSFL Premier Division match of the season.

⚽️ Irvine Meadow XI versus Troon F.C.⚽️
Saturday 23rd March 2024
PDM Huws Gray WOSFL Premier Division
Meadow Park, Irvine
Kick-off 2pm

There are 9 games to go for the Seasiders, so form goes out the window – it’s results that matter now, and that has to be the sole focus in the upcoming matches. Points are king. Last weekend’s win at Arthurlie was massive, and the supporters will be hoping that will give us a bounce going into the next few matches.

Irvine Meadow have had a difficult season, and have been skirting the dreaded bottom three for most of the campaign. Manager Kevin Deeney stepped down in September with the side bottom of the table & he was replaced the following week by former Renfrew Co-Manager & Kilbirnie Manager Martin Ferry. After he departed Meadow Park in December, former Captain Ben Carson stepped up from the Development Team to fill the interim position until the end of the season.

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

It’s reached that time of year where most players are carrying some kind of niggle & it’s about managing that til the end of the season.

Logan Smith is an absentee through suspension, after being shown a second yellow & a red card in the closing moments of last Saturday’s win at Arthurlie. Ben Black sat out the last two matches with a knock, but he is hoped to make an appearance on Saturday although Nicky Docherty (knee) is still a long-term absentee. Marc Fisher has joined Ardrossan Winton Rovers on loan until the end of the season, and Ben Strain is heading out to Lugar to get some game time alongside Jack Marks.

We’re working hard to get in a new signing before Saturday, so watch our social channels for updates!

Other than that, we expect a full squad for a crucial match in the season.

Last Saturday was huge for us, I was delighted to see the battling qualities in our squad as much as the technical qualities that got us the goals. It maybe wasn’t pretty at times, but it was 90 minutes of two sides fighting for their lives & I was delighted to see us come out on top. Some excellent performances across the park when we were down to the bare bones, bodes well for the rest of the season.

I suppose in many ways, this Saturday won’t be an awful lot different. Irvine Meadow haven’t had the season they planned at all, but I’ve got a lot of time for Ben and I’m sure he’ll have them well fired up for Saturday so we’ll have it all to do. We have to approach it the same way we did last weekend & hope the result goes our way. Match the effort & commitment, then hope our quality gives us the edge.

Jimmy Kirkwood (Manager)

Full Name	Irvine Meadow XI Football Club
Nickname(s)	The ‘Medda
Founded	1897
Ground	Meadow Park, Irvine
Capacity	4,364 (490 seated)
Club President	Robert Jeffrey
Caretaker Manager	Ben Carson
Captain	Simon McBryde
2022-23	WOSFL Premier Division, 8th from 16

⚽️️ GRANT BRENNAN ⚽️

26 year old Grant has provided the creative spark to the Medda front line this season, sometimes from out wide or from his preferred central role.

Grant spent his formative years in the Queens Park, Airdrie & Stirling Pro-Youth set-ups, before heading to Blantyre Victoria, Benburb briefly & Cambuslang Rangers last season, where he scored a beauty against us last April at Somervell Park.

⚽️️ ALLY McINNES ⚽️

The 36 year old is the safe pair of hands in the Medda goal, and he is a familiar face to the Seasiders after playing a starring role in our promotion run to the Premier in 2017-18.

Entered the Junior ranks with Lugar before a successful spell with Whitletts brought him to Jimmy Kirkwood’s attention, before a 3 year spell with Girvan & a return to Whitletts. Joined Medda last summer from old foes Kilwinning Rangers.

© Thanks to our club photographer Graeme McKenzie for his photos – fantastic, as always!

Irvine Meadow XI

DREW	LOST	LOST	LOST	WON
1-1	4-1	2-1	1-0	2-1
Rob Roy (H)	Benburb (A)	Hurlford (A)	Largs (A)	Pollok (H)
Sat 16th March	Sat 9th March	Sat 2nd March	Sat 17th February	Sat 10th February
WOSFL Premier	WOSFL Premier	WOSFL Premier	WOSFL Premier	WOSFL Premier

Troon F.C.

WON	LOST	LOST	LOST	DREW
1-2	5-1	1-2	0-2	3-3
Arthurlie (A)	Clydebank (A)	Rob Roy (H)	Benburb (H)	Gartcairn (A)
Sat 16th March	Sat 9th March	Sat 2nd March	Sat 24th February	Sat 17th February
WOSFL Premier	WOSFL Premier	South Challenge Cup	WOSFL Premier	WOSFL Premier

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 (I’m not calling it X yet):

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

All news on the club FIRST via the official Troon F.C. WhatsApp channel

Team news pre-match
Half-time score & update
Full time results
Info on functions & events
Book your seat on away buses

Irvine Meadow narrowly 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 Meadow Park, Troon took the lead through an early Jaime Gallagher effort. But Troon, who were in the middle of a miserable run of form, found their lead to be short-lived & Louis Kerr soon drew the hosts level before a Callum Graham penalty sealed the win.

The return match in May may have been a dead rubber in terms of what was a stake but it was still an exciting encounter. The two teams shared seven goals on the last game of the season, but goals from Kyle Gilroy & a Jaime Gallagher double were cancelled out by strikes from Connor Boyd, Louis Kerr & a Neil Slooves double.

(before this week’s matches)

	REFEREE:
	Connor Ashwood
Assistant Referee 1:		Assistant Referee 2:
Jordan Cousland		James Quinn

Referee Observer:

To be appointed

For travelling supporters, follow the Google Map below for directions to Meadow 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 Irvine, visit the “Journey Planner” section of Stagecoach’s website.

🔗 STAGECOACH.com

🚝 𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗩𝗘𝗟 𝗕𝗬 𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗜𝗡 🚉

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

🔗 SCOTRAIL.co.uk

Tickets are available at the turnstiles at Meadow Park:

Adult:	£8.00
Concession:	£4.00

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.