A journey across the country to the east coast lies ahead for The Buffs as they travel to face Bo’ness Athletic in Preliminary Round Two of the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup. Bo’ness Athletic defeated, WOSFL Premier Division champions, Beith Juniors to make it to this round whereas this is The Buffs’ first game in the tournament this season.
Bo’ness Athletic were founded in 2001 and find themselves in the EOSFL First Division after back-to-back league titles in the third and second division. Athletic play their home football at the same ground as Bo’ness United, Newtown Park, which is the reason the tie will be played on Friday night instead of Saturday as Bo’ness United have a league fixture on Saturday.
This is the third time The Buffs have entered the Scottish Cup, a competition they, so far, have a very good record in. The Buffs have won four out of their six Scottish Cup games and have earned themselves headline ties against Cowdenbeath and Forfar Athletic in previous installments of the competition. On the other hand, this is Bo’ness Athletic’s first year in the competition and after shocking many when they knocked out Beith Juniors 3-1 in the first preliminary round they themselves will be hoping of some sort of fairytale of their own. Athletic are currently sitting on ten points from their opening five games this season and will likely go into the tie as slight favourites but The Buffs have never hidden away from being underdogs in the Scottish Cup. This week’s opposition have not been shy of goals so far this season with the side scoring over twenty goals in seven games. If The Buffs have real ambition of getting through the tie, then they will need to make sure they can stop Bo’ness talisman Sandy Cunningham and Callum MacDonald who have been on fire this season so far, scoring thirteen goals between them already. The Buffs do come into the game off the back of an excellent performance away from home that seen them demolish Blantyre Victoria 1-5 at the KG Stadium. Despite missing some crucial players, The Buffs played some exceptional football last week, something they will be hoping to carry on, with the likes of Blair Macintyre and Eva Bembo hoping to build on some impressive goalscoring performances. The Buffs have beaten both EOSFL sides they have faced in the Scottish cup with great comeback wins against Dundonald Bluebell and Tranent, but The Buffs will need to ensure they are on their “A Game” if they want to keep this record going.
The Buffs could see returns of some players who missed last week’s match return, but the manager will be reluctant to make any changes to last week’s 11. Kevin Kelly has a very difficult task on his hands as his side head east for one of the showpiece games of the season but will feel confident that his side have what it takes to come back home with Kilwinning Rangers in the hat for the next round. As usual, The Buffs crowd will undoubtedly travel in great numbers with the hopes they can experience another great day in the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup. The winner of the tie will play on the weekend of September 28th in the First Round of the competition.
