JUNIORS Derby day buzz for Blair star Gary

Blairgowrie’s Gary Axworthy is expecting Coupar Angus to provide a different test to previous years when the teams lock horns tomorrow.

The east Perthshire derby has been a one-sided affair recently, with the Davie Park men dominating fixtures - on occasion reaching double figures.

Axworthy would love a similar scoreline at Foxhall Park this time around but senses life won’t be made as easy as a new-look Coupar find their feet.

The North Premier League fixture is the first meeting between the sides this season and Axworthy said:“These games absolutely mean a lot locally.

“They’ll be ready to come at us and credit to Lindsay Cruickshank because he’s doing good things at Coupar Angus from what I hear.

“Our gaffer has told the boys that it’ll be difficult and that we’ll all have to be at our best to win the game.

“I love the local derby. I’d love to be involved in this game on Saturday as I haven’t been playing. Fingers crossed the gaffer picks me for this one.

“Again, though, the most important thing is that we go to Foxhall Park this Saturday and get the three points.”

Blairgowrie head into the match with an unbeaten league record in their opening five games, sitting two points back from leaders East Craigie.

For Coupar Angus, they sit second from bottom but have already picked up a victory this season - which is one more than the whole of last year’s campaign.

Axworthy has been pleased with Blair’s start and sees no reason why they can’t continue to remain up the top end of the standings for the foreseeable.

“It’s been a positive start and we’re going into the local derby undefeated so far this season,”Axworthy told the Perthshire Advertiser.

“Ideally we would have liked maximum points at this stage but I’ve been in junior football long enough now to know that every team takes points off each other in a season.”