Adams looks to serve up another shock
GLASGOW Perthshire and their long-serving manager Billy Adams are accustomed to being tagged as underdogs.
And never more so than this coming Saturday when the Shire head down to Blair Park in Ayrshire to face leading lights Hurlford United in an Ardagh Group West of Scotland Cup secondround tie.
Just about every pundit reckons the outcome is a formality but a defiant Adams is refusing to rule out yet another upset.
He revealed: “We were similarly written off as no-hopers in the first round when drawn away to Clydebank but the players proceeded to burst more than a few coupons that day.
“It’s an awesome challenge for us but as long as we are not beaten on effort then I’ll be happy regardless of the result.”
It’s been a particularly tough campaign for the 58-year-old who lost a number of players during the close season leaving him scrambling around the juvenile and amateur ranks for prospective signings.
He managed to cobble together a team for the Shire to fulfil their fixtures including playing himself in a game against Royal Albert, but it’s indicative of his recruitment struggles for the Keppoch Park outfit to be holding down ninth spot in League One.
He admitted: “Junior football is a different kettle of fish nowadays and it’s even more of a thankless job when you try to get players on board with next-to-no funds at your disposal as I discovered recently when attempting to land three promising young players only to find myself outbid by amateur teams.
“Frustration can set in but you really have no option other than to train your sights elsewhere and it’s looking like we have managed to get a 15-strong squad together for going up against Hurlford.
“Taking on a top team in their own backyard is a big ask and I can only ask my players to give their best as they did in the Clydebank game and see where it gets us.”
The longest-serving manager in the Junior game today makes no bones about putting his faith in a mix of youth and experience for Saturday’s locking of horns.
He said: “Middle to front we have mainly young lads with good legs and backing them up is the experienced trio of Lee McShane, Davie Kirkwood and hopefully Mark Thomson, who fingers crossed will declare himself fit when flying back from holiday tonight.
“None of them are shrinking violets and I fancy their sheer physicality is going to be needed as word has it that Hurlford pack a lot of height in their team ”
Hurlford’s desire to retain the trophy won for the first time in their history last season with a penalty shootout defeat of Beith has led to gaffer Darren Henderson sending trusted aides to run the rule over Perthshire on two occasions.
And he makes no apologies for a cautious approach given the enforced absence of a clutch of his star turns.
He revealed: “Our top scorer Ross Robertson has one more game to serve of a threematch ban while another non-starter is new striker Marc McKenzie who was cup-tied with his previous club Kilwinning Rangers.
“Add in injuries looking set to rule out Richie McKillen and David Barron as well as Ross Fisher and you can see we don’t have our troubles to seek.
“Thankfully Liam Caddis is able to come back into our thoughts after a two match ban and we were also able to make up numbers by recalling Sam Liddington from a loan spell with Ardrossan Winton Rovers.”