This weekend, The Buffs welcome Kilbirnie Ladeside to Buffs Park for a monumental local derby, with The Buffs looking to build on their recent 4-game win streak, which has seen them extend their gap atop the WOSFL First Division to 5 points. Colin Spence’s Kilbirnie will still have hopes of a late promotion push after picking up 9 points from their last 3 matches, leaving them just 8 points below the top 3 with games in hand on nearly all who sit above them.
The Blasties have done brilliantly in recent weeks to turn their season around after it looked like they were going to be in the midst of a relegation battle just a few months ago. Kilbirnie are currently on the longest unbeaten run in the league, with no defeats in their last 6 league matches, picking up impressive results, such as away victories against Renfrew and Ardrossan and a point when they visited St Rochs along the way. Thorniewood United were the last team to beat The Ladeside when The Wood dismantled Kilbirnie 1-4 in the WOS Cup. Kilbirnie were well beaten on the day by a Thorniewood side led by midfielder Ross Forbes, who looked on a different level on the day. Sam McCloy leads the way in terms of scoring for The Ladeside with 7 league goals, followed by Scott Lewis, who departed Valefield Park for Darvel earlier in the season. The last time the clubs met, the game finished 2-2 at Valefield Park after The Buffs were denied the 3 points when Kilbirnie salvaged a draw at the death with a 93rd minute equaliser. Since the previous meeting, Kilbirnie Ladeside have added familiar face Gavin Millar to their squad after signing the forward from Gartcairn FC. The tricky winger has netted once since joining up with his new team and will be desperate to bag a goal on his return to Buffs Park this weekend.
Kevin Kelly will be hoping his side can get their 5th victory on the bounce this weekend, however, the Buffs support will be hoping for a much more comfortable 90 minutes after having to endure some nail-biting moments in recent months with all of their sides previous 4 wins coming by just the 1 goal. A win for The Buffs could leave them sitting top by as many as 8 points if other results were to go their way, but will have to be totally focused on the task at hand against a Ladeside team who have really upped their game in recent months.
Other games of importance to The Buffs that are also taking place this weekend are: Petershill host Rob Roy, Arthurlie host Cumbernauld, and Renfrew travel to face The Winton. Promotion challengers St Roch’s and Rutherglen are without a game on the day.
