It’s one of the biggest occasions of the season for The Buffs as they enter into preliminary round 2 of the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup for only the 4th time in the club’s history. The Buffs have only been knocked out at this stage of the competition once, when they travelled to Bo’ness Athletic last season and were beaten 2-0. Another journey east awaits Kevin Kelly’s side, who head south of Edinburgh to Montgomery Park, where they will face Penicuik Athletic FC.
Founded in 1888, “The Cuikie” have experienced just about everything in the Scottish non-league scene, including a few runs deep into the Scottish Junior Cup. Penicuik have appeared in three Scottish Junior Cup semi finals, making it to the final on one occasion, where they were beaten by Blantyre Victoria in a replay following a 1-1 draw the first time the sides faced. The first of Penicuik’s semi-final appearances would come against who else but The Buffs, with The Cuikie being defeated on the day. Financial issues in the 1980s forced the club to sell their ground and cease all football operations for 26 years before the club was revived when they moved into their current ground, Montgomery Park, in 2002. Since reformation, the club have seen reasonable success, such as being crowned champions of the East Premier league in 2014/15 and, more recently, finishing runners up in the EoSFL Premier Division back in the 2021/22 season.
The Cuikie have had a difficult start to their 2025/26 campaign, with the club only picking up three points from their opening six matches in the division. Penicuik’s only points earned so far this season came when they thumped struggling, Sauchie juniors 0-5 three weeks ago. Last time out, The Cuikie were defeated 1-3 by Dundonald Bluebell, a side who will be well remembered by Buffs fans after a comeback from 2-0 down saw Chris Aitken’s Buffs side knock The Bluebell out of the Scottish Cup a couple of seasons ago. Penicuik do have slightly more Scottish Cup experience than the Buffs, with the EoSFL club first entering the competition in 2018, when they put together an impressive run, getting as far as the third round. The run included major upsets with a 5-1 victory against Cumbernauld Colts in the first round before beating League Two side Stenhousemuir 3-0 in front of over 1,200 fans at Montgomery Park. The Cuikie would eventually be knocked out in the third round by an early Partick Thistle goal at Firhill. Today’s tie will be the first time the sides have faced off in 15 years, with the last fixture occurring in October of 2010 in a replay of the first round of the Scottish Junior Cup. The clubs first drew 1-1 at Buffs Park before The Buffs would manage to grab a 0-1 victory at Montgomery Park in the replay, thanks to a 30-yard free-kick from defender Callum McGregor, with a young Ben Lewis starting the game for the Buffs.
Kevin Kelly will be hoping to get his first Scottish Cup win as manager of the Buffs, following last year’s early exit at Bo’ness, as he looks to set the club up with a potentially big tie in the upcoming rounds, which sees sides from the SPFL enter the competition.
