glensmad

We have definitely seen a pick up in our support recently, quite a few new faces coming back more regularly and enquiries about season tickets for next season. But yesterday wasn't a great crowd, end of season fair and clashing with both Old Firm teams playing at the same time. Kilbirnie didn't bring many either, word must have got round how much they were struggling for players.

Correct.

Just like last week's defeat, we probably shouldn't read too much into our 6-0 win today, as pleasing as it was to watch. Kilbirnie only had 11 players, 4 of whom were trialists, so as expected they tired in the final quarter and we ran over the top of them having made five substitutions with fresh legs. It was a nice boost ahead of the cup final though, our fans left encouraged at seeing us hit six goals and keep a clean sheet. We also had the luxury of wrapping five or six players in cotton wool ahead of the biggest game the club has been involved in for 48 years. Now the countdown to Friday starts.....

Last Saturday in July.

They never actually had Glasgow in their names. The same as FC Bayern, International and Sporting Club de Portugal etc.

Gartcairn don't need to lose by a barrowload to lose the title. They only need to lose and St Cadoc's to beat Bonnyton by a barrowload, which is a far more likely scenario than Gartcairn losing to Benburb by a large margin.

Hopefully not.

Glencairn have received an additional allocation of tickets which is now on sale exclusively at Dr Gorman's bar and restaurant in Rutherglen. There will also be a section of 500 seats in the South Stand which is set aside for pay-at-the-gate on the day of the final, and this will be open to both sets of fans and neutrals on a first-come-first-served basis.

East based referee George Calder has been appointed to the final, which is fair as the match is between two West teams.

I was really comparing the 7 teams who were relegated from last season's Premier Dvision, so in that respect they've done ok.

We shouldn't read too much into that performance and result on Saturday. Yes, we were poor and drew a blank for the second game in a row, but we only had young Bradley Wilkie from the u21s as a striker with McIveen, McManus and McKay all unavailable. We were also missing Dunsmore, McDowall and McBride, while McGinley, O'Byrne and Lone were left on the bench to keep them from injury. Also we took off Schoneville and Mitchell not long into the second half, clearly with the cup final in mind. As the gaffer told Jim O'Donnell, we wouldn't have been doing cartwheels had we won the match, so we won't go overboard at losing it 1-0 with the team we put out. It's all about a week on Friday for us now, and I suspect our team selection this Saturday in our last league game will be a long way from how we will line up in the final.

Teams can respond in different ways to relegation from the Premier Division. The three teams who are being relegated out of the First Division this year (Rossvale, Cumbernauld United and Bonnyton Thistle, assuming there is not a world record breaking miracle on Saturday) were all also relegated from last season's Premier Division. Rutherglen Glencairn have been hovering above the drop zone for much of the season but had enough in the tank to avoid the bottom three this time. To balance that out, though, Benburb have bounced straight back up with promotion, and Kilbirnie Ladeside and Blantyre Victoria have had decent seasons when the final table is assessed. As I used to say about the old SJFA West Region second tier (and it's no different in the WoSFL) - it's a very difficult league to climb out of at the top, but a very easy league to fall out of at the bottom end if you're not careful.

Glencairn have almost sold out our allocation of 1200 as well, we've only got a few rows of one section left to fill.

From memory, Cambuslang Rangers wished the date of their WoSFL Cup match to be moved, but that wasn't possible, so they pulled out of the tournament. Glencairn's season was finished by this time last year and we released one of our goalkeepers who was leaving the club at his own request. He then went on to play as a trialist for Blantyre Victoria (which was allowed under the rules) in the abandoned match on the night of the Europa League Final. He then went on to sign for Cumbernauld Colts for this season.