It’s another vital day on the road for The Buffs as they travel to Dunterlie Park to face title favourites Arthurlie FC, with hopes of bouncing back from the 3-1 defeat to Renfrew FC last time out.
The 2-time Scottish Junior Cup winners have headlined the news in Scottish non-league football in the last week with the shock departure of manager Colin Reilly, who was removed from his position with the club sitting in a great position in the title race and with only 4 league defeats to their name this season. Reilly has since been replaced by the arrival of former Aberdeen and St Johnstone man, Kevin Rutkiewicz. Kevin has previously managed at both Striling Albion and East Kilbride before moving to Dunterlie Park just 7 days ago. The manager has yet to take control of his first Arthurlie match but has been busy in the transfer market with the signing of 3 players already.
Although currently being 10 points behind The Buffs and in the midst of a manager change, ‘The Lie’ will still be considered favourites to go on and win the WOSFL First Division, with the Barrhead side holding 6 games in hand on Kevin Kelly’s team. Despite their early season excellence and their strong league position, The Lie have only won 2 from their last 5 league games, including defeats to Rutherglen Glencairn, Cumbernauld United, and of course a 1-0 defeat at Buffs Park just the 4 weeks ago. The last time out, The Lie managed to squeeze past Kilbirnie Ladeside 0-1, with the only goal of the game coming from top scorer Mark Taylor, who grabbed his 9th league goal of the season to seal an important win for his side. The victory put an end to a 3-game losing streak for Arthurlie, all of which coming by a scoreline of 1-0. Bryan Boylan netted the winner when the clubs met last month in a game which The Buffs reduced Arthurlie to barely any forward action whilst also missing a few chances to win the game by a larger difference on the night. The away side has failed to win in any of the last 3 contests between the clubs, but, at the same time, all of The Lie’s last 3 matches have ended in 0-1 victories for the visiting team.
After last week’s defeat, The Buffs’ lead atop the WOSFL First Division has been reduced to 2 points, with the top 7 teams now only separated by 12 points as we head into the final stages of the season with so much still to play for.
New manager Kevin Rutkiewicz couldn’t have asked for a bigger game than this to begin his tenure at Arthurlie FC and will undoubtably be looking to begin his reign with a pivotal victory against Kevin Kelly’s league leaders. Kelly will be hoping to spoil Rutkiewicz’s party as his side begin their attempt to rebuild their 6-game winning streak, which they lost to Renfrew last week.
Elsewhere in the promotion race, Rutherglen Glencairn travel to face The Winton, Petershill welcome Cumbernauld United, and Thorniewood host Rob Roy. Finally, second-placed Renfrew head to Ashfield in a later kick-off time of 14:30.
