Father and son feel strain over threat of Ayr teams’ cup clash
when the Third Round draw is made on Tuesday, October 9 (2pm), appeared to horrify the younger Chris last night.
“Please no, please no,” he pleaded in jest before adding: “You wouldn’t hear me being against the prospect if we were meeting in the Cup final itself but, until then, I’d much prefer if we went our separate ways.
“And, anyway, if there is indeed such a thing as a fair share of the breaks then we are due to land one of the so-called cannon fodder in the next draw after taking part in what was the undoubted plum of the 2nd Round ties.
“To come out on top against a team of Beith’s calibre and in the manner we did was nothing short of magnificent and it was a victory that was badly needed in the wake of recent performances.”
So, what was his reaction to hearing that his father had steered lower league Darvel to a surprise win over Petershill?
Chris insisted: “At 61 he is not getting any younger but what cannot be denied is that he and John McMillan know all there is to know about the Junior game, so Darvel have selected two very ambitious and driven characters to try to get them back to the top.
“It will be interesting to see how things develop now they are in charge, but already you can see there is a solid look to their team and three wins out of three games is a dream start, even though my Dad will not be satisfied until they have put together a winning run into double figures.”
Kilwinning are back in top flight league action when making the short hop to face arch rivals Irvine Meadow this week and Strain reports a clean bill of health other than midfieldfer Michael Wardrope, laid up with ankle ligament damage.