Swifty still game for comeback at 37
Ex-Kilbirnie gaffer is having a Blast as he pulls on boots again
STEVIE SWIFT says he has no regrets over turning his back on Junior team management to rekindle his love affair with playing the game.
The 37-year-old, who resigned as K ilbirnie Ladeside gaffer in November, is a long way down the road from when he was at the peak of his onfield powers.
Yet he is gearing himself up to make an appearance in the Scottish Junior Cup last 16 for his fifth club. Swifty is hoping to don the colours of K ilwinning Rangers when the Ayrshiremen take the road to Fife to go up against bookmakers joint trophy favourites K elty Hearts on Saturday.
The one-time Junior Scotland star has not had the best of luck in the game’s showpiece competition. A solitary runners-up medal is all he has to show for figuring with Benburb, Linlithgow Rose, Irvine Meadow and Pollok in the latter stages.
And those agonies were multiplied threefold during his Meadow Park playing stint where memories of losing out in quarter-final encounters against Largs Thistle, Pollok and Auchinleck Talbot have made him determined to have one more shot at glory with last season’s beaten semi-finalists.
His decision to pull on the boots again came about after he answered a call to arms from Buffs manager Chris Strain that led to him playing – and scoring – in last weekend’s 4-2 New Coin Holdings Cup victory over “his beloved Bens”.
He said: “After parting company with K ilbirnie and there were opportunities to apply for management jobs, which I didn’t take up.
“I focused instead on getting myself into a decent physical condition with plenty of hours in the gym which proved very fortuitous when Chris phoned asking if I could help him out.
“He and I have stayed close friends since playing together at Irvine Meadow and he’s been badgering me non-stop to turn out for him ever since I parted company with K ilbirnie so I agreed to go down for a couple of training sessions.
“It was enjoyable working alongside the other guys and I then agreed to play as a stop gap defender during a midweek friendly win over Dalry Thistle, which was my first game in almost three years.
“Scoring with a set-piece header was the icing on the cake and I was happy to turn out against my first club Benburb where again I got on the end of a corner to head a goal.
“I’m feeling good for the run-outs and there are no aftereffects, so as long as the old ankles are holding up then I’m happy to give it a go.”
BUFFSboss Strain does not believe the Fifers will be extra motivated in wanting to avenge their losing cup final appearance against the Buffs in 1999 when legendary frontman Gerry Peline netted the only goal.
He admitted: “Obviously that little bit of history between the clubs can never be taken away, however I cannot think thoughts of 1999 will enter any of the players’ minds ahead of Saturday.
“I want everyone’s focus to be on the present day Kelty Hearts and on implementing our game plan which requires us to be very sound defensively.
“That explains in part why Swifty has been brought on board. He provides the experience we have been lacking in terms of cutting out the errors that have cost us this season.
“His no-nonsense approach and i nfluence on others around him will come even more into play given that suspension rules out both Joe Coleman and Findlay Frye, but the reality is we have other players capable of coming in to do a job for the team.”