This weekend The Buffs are making the short journey to the coast to face, North Ayrshire rivals, Ardrossan Winton Rovers in the club’s first competitive match of 2025. The Buffs will be looking to start the new year in similar fashion to which they finished the last, with the club currently on a 7-game unbeaten run in the WOSFL First Division.
Since the sides’ opening day tussle, which seen Ardrossan leave Buffs Park with a point after the game finished 1-1, The Winton have struggled to carry on the form which had seen them stroll to the WOSFL Second Division league title last campaign. Gavin Friels’ side currently sit in 11th place in the league with 18 points from their first 15 games with the club only picking up 1 win from their last 5 league matches, a run which includes disappointing home results to both Blantyre Vics and Kilbirnie Ladeside. Despite Winton’s underwhelming series of results start striker Ryan Wilson, and ex-Buffs man, has still managed to impress. Wilson has netted 9 league goals this season and only sits one goal behind league top scorer Gerard Clark. On the other hand, forwards Aidan Ferris and Mark Curragh have struggled to emulate their performances from last season with the pair only managing to bag a combined 7 goals, in the league, this season compared to last season where the duo scored a combined 31 goals.
Although The Buffs have not been involved in the league for nearly 4 weeks now, Kevin Kelly has kept his side ticking over with friendlies against Benburb, Port Glasgow and Largs being played. The Buffs have performed admirably across the 3 friendlies and even earned an impressive 3-0 win against Premier Division side Benburb in the first of the series of bounce-matches. Bryan Boylan currently tops The Buffs scoring charts with 7 goals this season with Mark Lamont following him up with 6 goals this campaign. Young striker Jack McMahon has been on fire in recent games with 3 league goals in as many games as well as a handful of goals in the recent friendly fixtures. The Buffs currently find themselves 6th in the league on 23 points, however, the club do have games in hand on those around them with wins in those matches possibly moving The Buffs up to as high as second place.
There is a real positive energy currently surrounding this Buffs team and Kevin Kelly will be desperate to ensure things stay that way with a positive result and performance at Winton Park today.