Junior teams break off for a rest at Christmas
Plenty of positivity surrounding the local football scene
It was always going to be a challenging season for Jeanfield Swifts after gaining promotion to the East Region’s Super League.
If the step up was not hard enough, the Perth side lost two key players to professional football with Chris Dodd and Chris McLeish signed up by Elgin City.
The Riverside squad are placed second from bottom in the current standings on 12 points after their opening 13 games.
“As expected this season has been a huge challenge,” said manager Ross Gunnion. “The Super League is packed with quality and is a significant step up in standard from last season.
“I always felt we’d take 8-10 games to get to grips with things and start to find our feet. We’ve had one or two disappointing results but by the same token we’ve also had some excellent performances and results.
“We’re right in the mix at the moment with teams fighting to maintain Super League status.
“We all believe at Jeanfield we have the ability to kick on and start putting more points on the board, and starting the new year away to Linlithgow Rose is a perfect place to start.” LUNCARTY’S time back in junior football this season has to go down as a success.
The Bleachers returned to the Swifts are up for the Super League battle
North Division after a year in abeyance and have cemented themselves with a comfortable seventh place standing at the Christmas break.
And, in January, the Brownlands Park men will fly the flag for Perthshire as the only remaining local side left in the Scottish Junior Cup. They face an away trip to Cumbernauld.
Manager Jon Kelly said: “Our season so far has been a bit up and down I would say, but to be honest not having one signed player until
July we have still come a long way.
“We have a good set of lads with plenty of youth about the place so the future looks bright.
“Going into 2017 we have a good Scottish Cup tie to look forward to and we will also be looking to mould a team that are ready to give the league a good shot next season.
“There is a small break now but we will be training hard through it with a hope of maybe adding one or two new faces before we start back.” KINNOULL manager Alan Cameron will be pleased with his side’s work up until this point.
The Tulloch Park squad occupied the summit of the North Division for a couple of weeks and are still well-placed in fourth. They sit three points from the top.
On return from the break, Noull will have plans to maintain their title push when East Craigie visit Perth.
It’s been a positive season so far for SCONE THISTLE and manager Derek Lawson.
The Jags’ recent form has been particularly impressive which has helped them move up to a solid fifth place in the North Division. Thistle are only four points from the summit of the table.
Thistle also put on a strong show in the Scottish Junior Cup, defeating Inverness City away from home before falling to a narrow defeat against Super League side Penicuik.
There will be aspirations at Farquharson Park that this promising season can continue when action returns.
There was change at COUPAR ANGUS at the beginning of the season with new manager Logan McConachie taking hold of the reins.
And it would be fair to say that his new squad of players took time to adjust to life in the North Division.
But in the past few weeks the east Perthshire men have impressed, picking up vital wins against Arbroath Vics and Luncarty to give some breathing space from the bottom of the table.
“It’s been a real busy time trying to build a new squad, getting the right players, then getting them fit and trying to get them to play the football we wanted them to,” said boss McConachie.
“It’s taken a little longer than expected due to trying to get the right sort of people and players involved with the club but we are nearly there now.
“Performances have always been filled with a lot of effort and enthusiasm but even more so in the past few months.
“We’re now confident that we will give anyone in our league a good game and that’s what we want to do from now until May.
“We’ve a few results early in the season that we weren’t happy about, so hopefully we can right those wrongs, as they say, in the return fixtures.” BLAIRGOWRIE are carving out another season of great promise in the North Division and sit joint top of the table.
The east Perthshire squad went close to promotion to the East Premier last term before having a disappointing end to their campaign.
Manager Billy Mackay will hope his side can continue their push this time round. Blair travel to take on Newburgh on January 7.