Friday night footie
Edinburgh City to play weekend home fixtures
AMBITIOUS Edinburgh City aim to attract Hibs and Hearts fans after receiving the green light from the SPFL to play their home fixtures on Friday nights.
Unfortunately the club’s return to Meadowbank has been unavoidably delayed due to the impact of Covid, however it is anticipated the ground will be ready for handover in October. In the interim they will continue playing home matches at Ainslie Park.
City just lost out on promotion last term finishing in second place after losing a League Two play-off final to Dumbarton.
Callum Crane, Ouzy See, Robbie McIntyre, Liam Brown, Danny Jardine and Danny Handling will continue their careers at City whilst Calum Antell, Craig Thomson, Kelby Mason, Marc Laird, Andy Black, Alex Harris, Dean Beveridge Liam Henderson and Sam Newman have all departed. Loan signings Raffaele De Vita, Jamie Dishington, Darren Smith, Jordan Tapping, Sam Denham and Josh Campbell have all returned to their parent clubs and Conrad Balatoni has been made available for transfer by mutual agreement.
Manager Gary Naysmith has so far captured highly rated Ryan Shanley on a loan from Hibs, midfielder Callum Tapping from Stenhousemuir, versatile Lewis Kidd from East Kilbride, James “Jinky” Hilton from Stranraer, defender Stephen Bronsky from Elgin City and Livingston goalkeeper Brian Schwake on a season-long loan deal.
The Citizens kick off the campaign on Saturday 31 July at home to Albion Rovers, and head north to face Forfar Athletic a week later. The first Friday night home fixture is on 13 August with Stenhousemuir the visitors for this historic match, then travelling to newly-promoted Kelty Hearts on 21 August, before meeting Elgin City on 28 August.