After waiting 75 days for a competitive match, now there’s another straight away! Our first road trip of the 2023-24 season will see us head to Benburb’s New Tinto Park where we face St. Cadoc’s for our second WOSFL Premier Division match of the season.
β½οΈ St. Cadoc’s versus Troon F.C. β½οΈ
Wednesday 31st July 2024
Greenversity WOSFL Premier Division
New Tinto Park, Govan
Kick-off 8pm
It’s the first travel day of the new season, and the new season confidence continues!
There is perhaps the feeling that Troon did not achieve what they could have done last season, but there is a steely determination in the camp to improve on that this season. As a result, this close season has been one of more change than recent summers.
St. Cadocβs had a hugely impressive first season in the WOSFL Premier Division last term, having been promoted alongside Champions Gartcairn & Benburb last summer. Their season didn’t start as planned on Saturday, beginning the campaign with a 4-3 defeat at Glenafton Athletic, so they’ll be determined to get on track as soon as possible.
Hereβs everything you need to know ahead of Wednesday nightβs matchβ¦
Jimmy Kirkwood’s new look squad has really taken shape during pre-season, and there are a few new faces for supporters to familiarise themselves with!
Callan Veitch made his competitive debut on Saturday for the club after joining from Cumnock, while Sam Jamieson and Mark Morrison made their official returns after re-joining the club from Cumnock & East Kilbride respectively. Aldin El-Zubaidi and Dario Viviani also made their second debuts for the club after making their loan moves from Kilwinning and Ayr United permanent in the summer, while Bryan Wharton was another new signing to make his bow for the club on Saturday, as a second-half introduction.
Fellow new signing Nathan Baird is in line for his competitive debut for the club after attending a family wedding on Saturday. Attacker Scott McLean will have to wait for now to make his second debut for the club as he is still recovering from a knee injury sustained last season, and Ben Black is edging closer to a return after a groin injury sustained at the end of last season.
It’s another exciting season in the offing this term, my 15th in charge at the club.
First game on the road this midweek, and it’s a real challenge straight away for us again this season. We didn’t lift a point off St. Cadoc’s last year, and we can’t let that be the case against anyone this season if we’re going to do what we want to. We felt very hard done by in the away match with a disappointing penalty shout, but they were well worth the 3 points at Portland so it’s a challenge we have to meet head on.
Saturday was frustrating, we should have taken something from that game against Pollok. It was a typical Maxi team effort, they got their noses in front & dug in second half to see the game out well, but we should have done better in both halves. We had a number of players making their competitive debuts for the club though, that won’t gel overnight & we have to remind ourselves of that, but we need to learn and learn quickly. This league gets tighter every season, it’s never been more important to get points on the board & that’s very much the case right now.
Jimmy Kirkwood (Manager)
| Full Name | St. Cadoc’s Football Club |
| Nickname(s) | St. Cads |
| Founded | 1987 (2020 as a senior team) |
| Ground | New Tinto Park, Govan |
| Capacity | 1,000 |
| Club President | Brendan Boyle |
| Manager | Martin Fellowes |
| Captain | BJ Coll |
| 2023-24 | WOSFL Premier Division, 3rd from 16 |
β½οΈοΈ NEIL McLAUGHLIN β½οΈ
A powerful winger, who is most often found coming off the left flank, 25 year old Neil really caught the eye last season thanks to his goal-scoring, with 30 league goals to his name in 2023-24.
One of many players who followed Martin Fellowes from East Kilbride last summer, he began his career in the Partick Thistle Weir Youth Academy before a spell with Motherwell, Stirling & Caledonian Braves.
β½οΈοΈ CIARAN DIVER β½οΈ
24 year old Ciaran made an unbelievable impact at Beith last season after signing from Renfrew, scoring a whopping 43 goals in 44 matches to finish as the league top scorer as his side won the league.
Began his career at Celtic, with loan spells at Edinburgh City & Stranraer, he joined Benburb & eventually Renfrew, scoring plenty of goals on the way. Ciaran is the son of former Ayr & Pollok striker Danny.
Β© Thanks to our club photographer Graeme McKenzie for his photos
St. Cadoc’s