Daz: We want to win for Gow legend Robbie
One well-known face will be missing from the Lesmahagow faithful today – but skipper Darren Lygate insists a trophy would be the perfect tribute.
Honorary club president Robbie Thomson died two weeks ago after devoting more than 50 years of his life to the club.
While Thomson won’t be at Newlandsfield to see Gow, boss Rab Irving – who was brought up in the same street – revealed he’ll play a big part in his team talk.
His skipper is desperate to deliver for the man who helped get the club this far.
Lygate said: “Everything we do from now on should be a tribute to that man. The amount he has done for us over the years, you can’t thank somebody for that sort of stuff.
“I can’t put into words just how gutted I am. Even when I’m walking into training – he used to stand at the door having a fag and I’d crack a couple of jokes with him – every time I walk by my heart sinks a wee bit.
“I’d love us to go out and win it for him. He was a Gow man through and through.”
The 29-year-old’s journey to this showpiece has been a rollercoaster one with his career hanging in the balance just 10 months ago.
Lygate was knocked out after falling down stairs at home in the early hours of the morning, resulting in a fractured skull and a bleed in his brain.
His sense of taste and smell still haven’t returned in the time since MailSport revealed in February (below) his anxious wait for the all-clear to return.
Now set for his first cup final as a junior player, the Gow skipper is the most confident he’s been in seven years at Craighead Park.
He said: “If you’d told me in the next year you’re going to be recovered – although I still can’t smell or taste – and be able to play football and be in a cup final, I’d have walked out there and then.
“I’ve come to terms with losing taste and smell now and if I’m like this for the rest of my days then it could have been a hell of a lot worse.
“I still get to play and that’s the most important thing. You saw Ryan Mason down south, he had to retire. I know it’s junior and it’s not that sort of level but I’d still be lost without my football.”
Boss Irving was playing for Gow the last time they won the Sectional League Cup in 1994.
The club sit second top of League Two having lost just once all season and Irving said: “I would say this is as big a day as the junior cup final we had 28 years ago.
“Some teams see the League Cup Sectional as glorified friendlies. We certainly don’t and it looks like Talbot certainly don’t.
“It’s a great reward for my boys for the work they have put in from the start of the season. This is the best dressing room I’ve had in the best part of five years.”