Beleaguered Scone in difficult clash as they host on-form Tayport

Scone Thistle welcome a Tayport side to Farquharson Park that are on a run of three wins on the bounce under Eddie Wolecki-Black.

Last weekend Tayport were 4-1 winners over Dundee Violet, Jamie Gill scoring twice alongside goals from Daniel Dorovic and Ryan Paterson, and Wolecki-Black will be confident of his side taking all three points against a Scone side that have won just once in 24 games.

Both sides are expected to have the same squads that were on duty last weekend.

League new boys Letham and Dundee St James meet at Seven Acres in Perth.

Both teams have had decent first campaigns so far and sit comfortably in mid table.

Letham will be without Benn Blyth and Nathan Kennedy through suspension as is the case for St James and Dylan Higgins, otherwise both sides are at full strength.

Kirriemuir Thistle’s upand-down season continued in their last game before Christmas with a 6-1 thrashing of Letham and they will need to be on similar form as they welcome Blairgowrie to Westview Park.

The visitors have been severely impacted by Covid and injuries and sit seven points behind Kirriemuir Thistle in 16th place but nine points ahead of Forfar United in 17 th place.

Thistle manager Stephen McNally is suspended but otherwise should be at full strength,

Blairgowrie boss Mark Brash, has a squad of 15 available and after seven players were affected by Covid, most have managed training this week.

Coupar Angus and Brechin Vics were both hit with Covid last weekend but both are more optimistic seven days on as they look forward to their meeting at Foxhall Park.

The middle section of the season has been very stop-start for the visitors, primarily down to Covid and they will be looking at finishing on a high, starting with three points this afternoon against a Coupar Angus side that while showing signs of improvement are still in the bottom two.

Neither side have seen competitive action since the beginning of December and while not ideal, it has allowed recovery time and both sides are expected to have full squads available.

In the East of Scotland League Premier Division Hill of Beath moved out of the bottom two after they beat Inverkeithing Hillfield Swifts 2-1 at Dalgety Bay.

And Jason Dair’s side will look to continue their improvement this afternoon as they welcome Jeanfield Swifts to Kiers Park.

Ross Gunnion’s Swifts were flying before Christmas, but a combination of Covid and the weather mean that the Perth side haven’t played since December 18.

The Haws are expected to have the same squad that beat Inverkeithing while Jeanfield will leave their selection until the last minute as they have a few players with niggles.

Kinnoull will still feel that they have a chance of the Conference title and will not give up until that is not possible.

The Perth side are expected to have a full squad available for the home clash with Newburgh but manager Alan Cameron will leave his selection as late as possible.

Oakley United manager Stewart Kenny and his counterpart at Luncarty, Robbie Holden, agree that the Perthshire side should have won their previous game after coming back from 2-0 down, in November.

However, this afternoon’s clash at

Blairwood Park is a blank canvas with both sides looking to take the three points.

Holden is pleased to have an almost full squad available. Kieran Donald is unavailable but the manager still has 20 players to choose from.

Oakley are one of the strongest sides in the league and are dangerous in the forward areas.