This weekend brings Thorniewood United FC to Buffs Park in the first of back-to-back fixtures between the sides, first of all in the 3rd Round of the West of Scotland Cup before the sides will meet again next week in a WOSFL First Division crunch match. The Buffs have already made it further in this competition than they did last year and will be hoping that they can emerge victorious to give themselves the psychological advantage over the visitors before next week’s crucial league game.
Founded 100 years ago, “The Wood” have not seen any major success in their time as a club with only 9 official honours to their name. Based at Viewpark in North Lanarkshire, The Wood will likely be playing in their home colours of red and black when they visit Buffs Park over the next fortnight.
Thorniewood come into the tie on an excellent run of form as they currently remain unbeaten in 6, winning 5 of those which leaves them sitting in 5th place in the league, 5 points above The Buffs although the Ayrshire side do have a game in hand on them. Goals have not been hard to come by for The Wood so far this season, scoring the league’s 4th highest amount of 26 whilst also conceding the league’s 3rd highest amount of 29. Ex-Buffs loanee defender Regan O’Sullivan currently plays for The Wood alongside the likes of Ross Forbes and Stuart Carswell who both made their fair share of appearances in the SPFL Premiership for Motherwell. When the sides met last season, The Buffs earned a 1-2 away win thanks to a Gavin Millar last minute winner but when The Wood came to Buffs Park it was the Lanarkshire side who ran out 1-2 winners after The Buffs were reduced to 10 men fairly early in the game.
The Buffs will need to ensure that they can emulate last week’s second half performance, which should’ve seen them complete a comeback at Hannah Park, if they have any hopes of progressing into the next round of the competition. Kevin Kelly will be hoping his side can capitalise on The Wood’s defensive frailties but will need to be very weary of the threat the visitors possess going forward, especially after last week’s defensive disaster for The Buffs.
