Saints on Scottish Cup duty

Oban Saints make the long journey to Rothienorman in Aberdeenshire on Saturday to take on Rothie Rovers in the fifth round of the Scottish Amateur Cup with the winners securing a place in the last 16 of the national cup competition.

With the all-weather pitch at Oban High School closed for the festive holidays, Saints have had nowhere to train for this vital fixture so, in preparation, the Oban side organised a full-scale practise match last Saturday at Glencruitten.

Saints will face a tough test as Rothie Rovers are a good side but co-managers Donald Campbell and Willie Gemmell are confident that if they have a full squad available then they have a great chance to progress to the last 16 of the cup.

Rothie beat BS AFC 5-3 in round one. In the second round they defeated Syngenta 3-2 and in round three they beat Newport 1-0. Most impressive of all was a 1-0 win over top Caledonian League side Dalziel HSFP in round four. All these games were away from home.

Saints defeated Gartcosh United 3-2 away in round one, then hammered St Johns from Perth 9-1 in round two in Oban. This was followed by an impressive 3-1 win away at Lowson United from Forfar in round three followed by a comprehensive 5-1 home win over East Kilbride Thistle in the fourth round.