Samson eyes Ayrshire tie but Cumnock comes first
IT is the game everyone in Ayrshire is talking about. Or make that almost everyone.
Before Auchinleck Talbot defender Keir Samson can turn his attention to next Saturday’s William Hill Scottish Cup fourth-round tie against Championship high-flyers Ayr United, there is the small matter of an Ardagh West of Scotland Cup tie against his former team, and Talbot’s Junior rivals, Cumnock this Saturday.
After 2-0 and 4-3 wins earlier this season – the latter as recently as December 22 – Samson knows that making it a hat-trick of wins in one of the tastiest derbies Junior football has to offer would be the perfect preparation for a tilt at the Somerset Park side.
“It’s massive. The two villages just don’t like each other and there’s a few people who would choose a win against Cumnock ahead of a victory over Ayr,” said Samson, who dropped into the Junior ranks after stints at Kilmarnock and Stranraer. “I’d probably be one of them!
“We beat Cumnock 4-3 and 2-0 already this season and we’re playing them again this Saturday in the West of Scotland,” he added.
“The next three weeks are all cup games so it will be good to get a break from the league and I think it will help us prepare for Ayr to have a big game against Cumnock. The manager will probably play his strongest team. He’ll not rest anyone and I think it will be good preparation for Ayr.
“It did feel a wee bit like I had to win over the fans at first because I had come from Cumnock. Also it’s been a bit stop-start for me because I broke my foot and missed the first two or three months. But I’ll definitely win them over if I help get a result against Ayr.”
Beechwood Park will be rocking next Saturday for a day in the life of Auchinleck, which is perhaps even bigger than the one that saw them wrongly deprived a replay against Hearts six years ago.
And Samson for one has plenty of extra incentive to be on the right side of the result.
Not only did he spend seven years in the youth ranks at Kilmarnock alongside Greg Kiltie, he is currently employed as a youth coach working with the SFA’s performance schoolchildren at Grange Academy in Kilmarnock. Most of them are Killie fans, even if one former pupil is Finn Ecrepont, the performance school graduate in the Ayr team.
“It’s mostly Killie fans and they’ll be desperate for us to get a result,” he said. “Garry Hay is my boss so, as a former Killie player, he is desperate for me to win as well.
“He’s had a few chats with me about it and he hopes we win. My other boss is Craig Brown’s son John. He’s affiliated with Ayr. So I’m getting wound up by both of them!
“Ayr are flying, but we’re doing really well too and in a one-off game anything can happen,” he added.
“We’ve got nothing to lose because we’re coming in as underdogs. But sometimes it’s just you luck on the day. Well just go out and give it everything.”
■ Keir Samson was speaking at a William Hill media event. William Hill is the proud sponsor of the Scottish Cup