Cairns keen to ‘put things right’ as Chieftains take on Hawick in final

THE bond Mark Cairns has with his 2010 Scottish Premiership-winning team-mates is something he’ll never take for granted.

Making history with Currie Chieftains by winning the trophy means the world to him and he’s still in regular contact with his team-mates from that day.

And that’s why he’s so desperate for the current crop of players to be on the winning side this afternoon and achieve that feeling of making history for their club.

Currie take on Hawick at Mansfield Park today and they go into it knowing their opponents got the better of them in the final minute of last season’s final at the same venue.

It was a bitter blow for Currie under the tutelage of Cairns – and fellow coach Ally Donaldson was the coach back in 2010 too.

They have a chance to get revenge and Cairns insists the focus is on the present and they won’t be burdened by what happened last year when the 13 men of Hawick took the victory when the clock was red.

He admitted there was a bit of a hangover from the loss at the start of the season but now the focus is purely on getting their hands on silverware.

“It played heavy on us at the start of the year,” said Cairns.” The guys were still carrying it, it was a tough way to lose having played so well for the majority of the match. I think it’s going to be similar conditions, conditions that will suit our game and how we want to play and the guys are fully focused on what’s in front of them.

“The only thing that matters is now. If we can use it to our advantage then great but it’s not going to burden us.

“There’s real positivity around the club. The guys are looking forward to the match, they’ve obviously been in a couple of finals before so the guys have experience of finals and know what they’ve done right and what they’ve got

wrong and want a chance to put things right on Saturday against Hawick.

“It’s really positive and the guys are aware of what we need to do to be in the game towards the end. We feel if we are in the match in the last 20 minutes we’ve got a good chance.

“In 2010, I was playing and Ally [Donaldson] was the coach. We’re both coaching now so we’ve both experienced it. The biggest desire from us is we want the players to experience that. It’s unique and we want the player group to have that life long bond. I still catch up with the guys we won the league with and I want that for the guys on the pitch to have that opportunity.

“There’s guys who have been around the club for a while but not managed to win a final and I feel like for them I’d

love them to experience that making of history and having that bind with the guys you achieved it with for the rest of your life. That would be really cool.” Hawick have an incredible home record having not lost at Mansfield since 2019. It’s something Currie are going to need to overcome and Cairns reckons it could add extra pressure to the home side.

He continued: “There’s a lot of pressure on them to retain their home record, a lot of expectation and internal expectation to win the match. They’re good at dealing with pressure, they do well in pressure situations so we’ve got to be prepared for that and when you get to a point where you’ve experienced pressure and winning then every time you experience pressure in future you

feel you’re going to win and that’s a good place to be mentally.

“For our part we need to stay in the fight and put pressure on and expect to win also so we give ourselves an opportunity to win on Saturday.”

A big crowd is expected at

Mansfield for the match and there will be four bus loads of fans travelling from the capital to the borders town for the game too.

One of them might be a bit rowdier than others and Cairns is determined to put on a show for the travelling support.

He added: “There’s a party bus going from the threes and there’s three regular buses. It should be a good atmosphere.

“The guys that travelled last year although the ending wasn’t we wanted, really enjoyed the day. There’s been good advertising for this final and there’s stuff on at the club house before it and for those that can’t travel they’re showing the live stream as well and people supporting us.

“Win or lose when we get back to the club house we’re going to have a bit of party and celebrate what we achieve.”

There’s guys who have been around the club for a while but not managed to win a final and I feel like for them I’d love them to experience that making of history