Capital City next stop for ‘Loons’

Congratulations to Gary his management team and the players following the victory at Stranraer on Saturday which secured a play-off spot with still four games of the league campaign remaining.

Saturday’s success was achieved despite six players being absent from the squad either through long or short term injuries or illness.

In a game in which few chances came the way of either side over the ninety minutes, two excellent finishes from Craig Slater and Stefan McCluskey in the final ten minutes of the contest sealed all three points.

The Athies now head to Edinburgh on Saturday to face up to Edinburgh City currently sitting in fourth place in the league table.

We would again emphasise that this fixture has been moved to a Saturday afternoon slot from its original Friday evening berth, although one or two media outlets over the past couple of days including City’s own website have still stated that it is a Friday night fixture.

The game at Ainslie Park the home of Spartans FC will have the normal 3 p.m. kick-off, the Edinburgh derby taking place only a few miles away in Gorgie at the same time.

Admission prices for Edinburgh City’s home games are £14 for adults, £9 for concessions with children under 12 admitted free of charge if accompanied by an adult.

Looking further ahead to the play-offs it looks highly likely unless one of the two clubs ‘falls off the cliff’ in a footballing sense in the remainder of the month that we will be meeting up with Annan Athletic in the two-legged play-off semi-final in the first week of May.

Who will finish second in the table and with it get the Saturday second leg at home on the 7^th of May is still a matter of conjecture and of course the sides are due to meet at Station Park on Saturday week.

Before that the ‘Loons’ will hopefully keep the pressure on the Galabank outfit with a win in Edinburgh this weekend, Peter Murphy’s side due to welcome bottom of the table Cowdenbeath to Annan on the same day.

Following the 16^th of April meeting between the sides at Forfar, Annan are on their travels again on Friday the 22^nd when they head to Edinburgh City, Gary Irvine and his squad are due to face up to champions Kelty at New Central Park 24 hours later.

On the last day of the league season, Kelty will again be involved in the equation when they make the journey to Dumfriesshire, the ‘Loons’ welcoming Stenhousemuir who at present still harbour hopes of a fourth-place finish.

A ‘lot of water to flow under the bridge’ as they say before April is out.