Big league kick-off for juniors

Gary Pews • Published 20 Aug 2010 14:00 0 Comments

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ALL THE STOPS: Joe Beckley and Paul Temporal put the shackles on derby rival Kenny McKay.

BUOYANT Greenock begin their league campaign tomorrow with a home match against Glasgow Perthshire.

The Ravenscraig men go into the match on a real high, after an amazing run in the Sectional League Cup saw them win all four of their group matches to qualify for a quarter-final home clash against Shotts Bon Accord next Wednesday.

But all thoughts of League Cup glory must be put on the back burner for now, as the newly-promoted Nock aim to get off to a good start in the highly-competitive Central League First Division.

Manager Stevie Mooney said: “It is always important to do well in your early league games, but there’s no doubt Perthshire will make it difficult for us.

“We haven’t played them for a while, but I know they are a feisty, tough team who will give us a hard game.’’

Unfortunately, striker Ryan MacDonald will be missing.

MacDonald has already netted four times this season, but his full-time employment rota will see him miss occasional Saturdays, the first of which is tomorrow.

But Mooney is confident he has plenty of other firepower up front, in particular Kenny McKay, who also netted four during the League Cup group matches.

With Kevin Brown and David McClure the only other players unavailable, there’s a substantial squad vying for places in the starting eleven.

Mooney said: “It will certainly be hard to pick the team to begin tomorrow’s match, as we have real quality in most positions and on the bench. But I suppose that is a happy position for a manager to be in.’’

Kick-off at Ravenscraig tomorrow is at 2pm.

• Greenock Juniors are sponsored by Regents Vehicle Sales, Greenock, Kingsley Wood Solicitors and Notaries, and the Lighthouse Bar.

PORT GLASGOW aim to put their disappointing League Cup results behind them as they visit Cambuslang Rangers in their league opener tomorrow.

The Port could only muster one point from their four group matches in the League Cup, scoring just three times in the process and conceding 10.

But there were signs against Vale of Leven on Wednesday night that the revamped squad was beginning to show promise.

The new season will see a continuation of an ongoing rebuilding exercise for the Port, who now have no fewer than eight players under the age of 22.

Mistakes will no doubt be made, but if they can maintain the progress evident in midweek they should be able to hold their own in the league.

But tomorrow is a tough opener. Cambuslang finished a comfortable fourth in the Central League First Division table last season, albeit without making a serious challenge for promotion.

But they will be looking to do just that this time round, so Port boss Craig Brown knows it will be a hard game.

But he was in good spirits as he looked ahead to tomorrow’s clash.

He said: “We basically used the League Cup matches as a fitness exercise to get the whole squad games, so I feel we are well prepared for tomorrow.

“It will be tough, as Cambuslang are one of the favourites for promotion, but we are making progress.

“Our performance against the Vale was night and day compared to when we lost to Greenock two weeks ago, so we can be positive about going to Cambuslang.’’

Kick-off at Somervell Park is at 2pm.

• Port Glasgow Juniors are sponsored by 5 Star Plasterers, and WJ

This article appeared in Greenock Telegraph 20 Aug 10

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