Wigtown & Bladnoch FC – Pre Match Preview

18/09/2021
0 - 8
Full Time

BY Jamie Banks

St Cuthbert Wanderers are through to the second round of the Scottish Cup following a resounding 8-0 victory over Wigtown and Bladnoch. Aidan Meechan opened the scoring for Saints with a long range free kick which the keeper was unable to keep out of the net. As the first half continued Saints began to dominate the play, and found their second goal when Dale Milligan was brought down inside the box for a penalty, which he then converted. Shortly after the half-time interval, Wigtown and Bladnoch had the ball in the net, but the goal was ruled offside by the assistant referee. Saints responded to this immediately with a ball over the top finding striker Ross Hunter, who rounded the keeper before adding to the scoreboard. Two goals in quick succession then followed, first Milligan showed great composure to hold off two opposition defenders before dispatching a calm effort into the net. Then a fine team move culminating in a backheel pass from Hunter set up Meechan for his second goal of the match. Despite this comfortable goal margin, Saints didn’t ease off the pressure. Hunter brought down a cross from Kelly, and while falling backwards was able to fire an impressive volleyed strike past the keeper. An error at the back for the hosts put Saints 7 ahead, as a Hunter effort deflected off a Wigtown and Bladnoch defender and past the keeper into the net. With full-time fast approaching Meechan’s persistence in front of goal paid off, with the Saints’ midfielder prodding his shot home , securing a Scottish Cup hattrick and rounding off a strong team performance. Saints are now the sole representative of the South of Scotland Football League in the Scottish Cup and will face Gala Fairydean Rovers, at home, in the second round.

Details

Date Time League Season Match Day
18/09/2021 3:00 pm Scottish Cup 2021-2022 1

Wigtown & Bladnoch

Saints

1Jake Gemmell Goalkeeper
2John Renwick 7 Defender
3Cameron Taylor Defender
5Luke McMurtrie Defender
8Aidan Meechan Midfielder
9Ross Hunter Forward
10Dale Milligan 16 Forward
11Scott Ballantyne Forward
15Russell Williamson 22 Midfielder
17Thomas Kelly Midfielder
20Dillon Black Midfielder
6Lewis Ebbs Defender
7Elliott Harris 2 Forward
16Jai Wilson 10 Forward
18Owen Hall Defender
22Mark O’Rourke 15 Midfielder
24Patrick Callaghan Midfielder
  1 7 2

Info

Saints start their Scottish Cup journey at the First Round stage tomorrow, in an all South of Scotland league clash against Wigtown & Bladnoch F.C. at Trammondford Park.

The two sides have already met twice this season, most recently two weeks ago in league action, Saints came out on top with an 8-1 victory. We also took the spoils in our first preseason friendly, winning 6-1 in that tie.

The winner on Saturday goes into Sunday’s Second Round Draw, that’s held at 11:30 am on the Scottish Cup twitter account.

If both sides cannot be separated after 90 minutes the tie will go to a replay, the date will be confirmed in due course.

Notes for Fans heading to Trammondford Park

Adult Ticket: £5

Concession: £3

Under 16s: Free

We advise fans to arrive in plenty of time for kick off to avoid crowding.

Squad details

Three players will miss out on Saturday’s game, Jonny Rawlings, Patrick Callaghan (concussion protocols), Luke Currie (unavailable). Lewis Ebbs is doubtful as he recovers from injury too.

Pre-Match Comments

“It’s great for the club to be back and competing in the First Round of the Scottish Cup. It’s perhaps a good and a bad thing to have played Wigtown & Bladnoch already, we’ll take confidence from the ‘dress rehearsal’ two weeks ago but the players know it’s a different game on Saturday. It’s a different competition entirely, we’ve both got nothing to lose and everything to gain. Whoever comes out on top will get the bragging rights, getting to represent the league in the next round, we’d love to be that team.”

Saints Manager Jordan Williamson

Last Time We Met

How to Stay Up to Date

If we’ve successfully solved the gremlins from the match earlier this month, our twitter and facebook pages will have live updates of the match during the 90 minutes. We’ll also produce our own highlights pack that will be available next week on our YouTube channel.