These Roses are not Shrinking Violets |
Asthe weekends FA Cup upsets showed, if you don’t take teams seriously, no matter what level they play in, you will be undone. Just ask Blackburn, Everton, Liverpool, Swansea, Bolton, Fulham and Birmingham, all of whom were either beaten or held by lower league opposition. With the arrival of Junior club Linlithgow Rose on Saturday, Queens step into the unknown. A side with over 100 years of history, a trophy room bulging with every major honour the Junior game has to offer and ex Hibs star Gavin Rae as Assistant coach, if the Rose are taken too lightly, there is no doubt this is a potential giant banana skin waiting to happen.
The inclusion of the Junior clubs has added a freshness to the Scottish Cup and certainly Linlithgow have not been slow to get moving. A 6-0 thrashing of Newton Stewart in the first round was swiftly followed by a further 4-1 hammering of experienced Scottish Cup campaigners Spartans, something Spartans manager, Mickey Lawson, who was against the inclusion of junior sides in the competition, was made to regret, as his words were used as a motivational tool eventually ending up pinned on Linlithgow's dressing room wall.
A home draw in the 3rd round saw Linlithgow at home to our near neighbours Dalbeattie Star, who went down 1-0.
Although, like Queens, the Rose must have been hoping for one of the top SPL sides, they will see a game against us as one they can win. Queens should need no motivation, given that the club, like many others is desperate for at least one big pay day. Queens also need to build on their recent good form, which has seen 3 wins from 4, including a close run game against the league leaders Hamilton. If Stephen Dobbie can produce anything like the form he produced in the last 30 odd minutes against Clyde then Queens will be quietly confident of moving into the 5th Round.
Unlike Sky, the national newspapers are certainly showing an interest in the Junior clubs first outing against one of the SFL clubs. Scotland on Sunday ran a full page article this weekend on last Years Scottish Junior Cup winners. Rose manager Jim Sinnet was quoted as saying, ‘we have won everything in the Junior game with 19 trophies and last year won the Junior league and cup treble……………..if we can get out our strongest side, I am confident we will do ourselves justice’.
With ex-Clyde and Hamilton player Brian Carrigan, Mark Bradley from Hearts and Sean Grady, recently signed from Forfar, Linlithgow have good experience in the side. Add the expected 800+ visiting supporters and it’s all adding up to what might be a spicy encounter at Palmerston on Saturday. The bookies might be giving Linlithgow little chance but hopefully Queens won’t take them so lightly.
