Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
‘Cairn march on in the Junior cup
Scott Mills insists Gartcairn are up for the cup this season after progressing into the second round of the Scottish Junior Cup.
The Airdrie side eased past Aberdeen East End 4-1 courtesy of a Liam Craig double, a David Sinclair strike and an own goal.
Cairn used the cup game to rotate their squad and assistant boss Mills insists it was hugely beneficial.
“The main thing is that we are in the next round,” Mills admitted. “It was a decent first half but we dropped off in the second due to fatigue, which is understandable.
“It was good to get some guys game time that haven’t played too much recently. Some boys haven’t been in the starting eleven and some boys were returning from injury.
“We started Stephen Bailey at centre-back. He’s a new signing and he managed to get seventy minutes in his legs.
“He’s just returned from injury so we replaced him, just to be on the safe side. Sean Hughes started and he created a couple of goals for us.
“He ran out of steam a little but we were delighted with the shift he put in after being on the bench the last few weeks.”
The Junior Cup is one of the most prestigious tournaments in the country and Mills insists Gartcairn will take it seriously.
He added: “Anybody who doesn’t get excited by the Scottish Junior Cup isn’t a real football person.
“Everybody loves a cup tie and we said to the players that it’s a chance to reset their minds after a couple of disappointing league outings.
“The cup is an opportunity to win something and we started well. We won’t be taking this tournament lightly and we want to go far.”
Cairn have been drawn against East of Scotland League side Tayport in the next round and Mills expects a tough challenge.
“I’ve looked into them,” Mills revealed. “They’re playing in the new conference in the East of Scotland League.
“We played Lochee United, from that league, in pre-season and drew 0-0. I noticed Lochee beat Tayport so we know that if they are of a similar standard then it will be really tough.
“Tayport has always been a big name in that region so we are expecting a difficult tie but we are happy that it’s home.”
West of Scotland League sides have faced a gruelling schedule this season with midweek fixtures.
Subsequently, clubs have been unable to spend much time on the training pitch but Mills is delighted that the midweek games have ended.
He said: “It was really difficult. One of our players said to me last week that he really enjoyed a drill in training and we should do it more often.
“I had to tell him that it was only our third session of the month! We’ve hardly had a chance to train so it will definitely help us.”