The Buffs travel to Robertson Park, North Lanarkshire, with 4 league games left to face Thorniewood United in yet another crucial clash in the promotion battle. The ‘Wood have shown great ability at times this season and will still consider themselves as outsiders in the race for the top 3 spots, despite currently sitting slightly off of the pace set by the top sides in the division.
Thorniewood currently occupy 7th place in the WOSFL First Division, with 38 points from 24 games, which is a decent total when compared with The Buffs’ 51 points from 26 games. It has been a season which has lacked much consistency for The Wood, with impressive results including a 0-5 victory at Premier Division St Cadoc’s mixed in with some poor defeats to the likes of Irvine Meadow, Kilbirnie Ladeside and Vale of Clyde FC. After only being defeated once in 8 games, The Wood have failed to grab a win in their last 3 matches, with a draw against Cumbernauld United followed by back-to-back defeats to Kilbirnie and Rutherglen coming in recent weeks. The Buffs have already played Thorniewood twice at home this season when the sides faced off in back-to-back games in December. The first of the doubleheader came in the West of Scotland Cup and ended in a 1-2 victory for The Wood before The Buffs got revenge a week later in the league when a Bryan Boylan goal sealed a 1-0 win for The Buffs on a day where they dominated the visitors and should’ve probably won by more. Thorniewood’s star man is undoubtedly ex-Motherwell midfielder Ross Forbes, who possesses the ability to single-handedly open up defences if given time on the ball, with his excellent range of passes. As well as controlling the midfield, Forbes is also joint league top scorer for The Wood with 6 goals alongside pacey forward Robet Barr. With only 3 home defeats in 11 this season, Robertson Park has proved a tough place to go for sides however, The Buffs have only been beaten once on their league travels all season, when they visited Renfrew in recent weeks. Last week’s derby day double from Jack McMahon means he overtakes Mark Lamont in the goalscoring table, with the young forward now just 2 league goals behind top goalscorer Bryan Boylan, who has netted 12 times in the division.
Kevin Kelly will be hoping his side can take another massive step towards promotion this weekend, with his side needing to secure 8 points from their final 4 games to guarantee a top 3 finish when all is said and done.
Elsewhere in the division, Arthurlie travel to Meadow Park, Rutherglen host Maybole, Renfrew visit Vale of Clyde FC, and St Roch’s welcome Kilbirnie Ladeside.
