Match Preview: Ross County vs East Kilbride
Ross County and East Kilbride meet for the first time. Ross County have enjoyed a stellar start to their campaign. The Dingwall outfit managed to finish top of their League Cup group, beating Premiership outfit Dundee on penalties along the way, before beating Championship side Dunfermline Athletic 2-1 away from home in the Last 16, to set up a Last 8 meeting with Hibernian in Dingwall. In terms of the league, County have been flawless, winning all three of their matches, with the most recent win coming away against Airdrieonians, who were also relegated from the Championship last campaign. East Kilbride have had a rapid rise to reach League One. The Kilby have earned back-to-back promotions to reach this division, and based on their start to their League One season, are showing no signs of slowing down. EK have picked up seven points from a possible twelve, which puts them in third, one place and two points behind their opponents on Saturday, albeit having played a game more. Both sides were in Challenge Cup action during the week and both got the job done in a professional manor. Ross County beat Highland League outfit Banks O’ Dee 4-0 in Dingwall, courtesy of an early strike from Jamieson, a brace from Phillips and a goal from Coyle. While East Kilbride beat Lowland League outfit Cowdenbeath 3-1 away from home, courtesy of a brace from McGrattan and a penalty from Elliot. This is a game that promises goals, based on their starts to the season. County have scored thirteen goals in their last five matches, while East Kilbride have found the net twelve times in their last five matches, here’s hoping for more of the same when these sides meet on Saturday for the first time.
Rangers and Celtic Handed Stadium Bans Over Pitch Invasion
Celtic and Rangers have been ordered to play their next home Scottish Cup fixtures behind closed doors following fan disorder during last season’s quarter-final clash. In addition to the stadium bans, both clubs have been instructed to pay £100,000 in compensation to the visiting team for that tie. Authorities have also issued a suspended sanction: a second home match without supporters will be enforced should fans engage in further “unacceptable conduct” in future Scottish Cup matches. The strict disciplinary measures follow violent scenes at Ibrox at the conclusion of last season’s quarter-final, where Celtic defeated Rangers on penalties to reach the semi-finals. A post-match pitch invasion saw supporters from both sides storm the field, resulting in clashes with stewards and police, as well as a series of arrests.
Derek McInnes stated he is “mortified” by shock defeat
Rangers European dream came to a halt as the Ibrox side miss out in European football for the first time since 2017. After a 1-0 win in Govan last week, hopes were high of progressing to the UEFA Conference League for the first time, but it just wasn’t to be in the Czech Republic. Rangers failed to cause any real problems last night, and a 73rd-minute strike by Tchanturishvili forced the tie into extra time. Neither side was able to find the net in the extra period, meaning penalties awaited. Rangers were unable to progress, after both James Penrice and Findlay Curtis missed their spot-kicks, to see Jablonec into the league phase draw this afternoon. McInnes said: “First of all, I’m embarrassed with the performance. I think the only people who represented the club well tonight were my staff, the support staff in the preparation. “We do so much right here to get the players ready and in peak condition to go and perform. And the supporters, who to a man were outstanding, getting behind the team despite watching what we all watched. “It wasn’t a good performance at any stretch of the imagination. Then you think you might just get through. “It shouldn’t have come down to two boys, James Penrice and Findlay Curtis, in tears for missing a penalty kick. It shouldn’t have come down to that. “I’m not going to sit here and make any excuses whatsoever. It wasn’t good enough. “I thought the opposition were better than us in most aspects of the game so we got what we deserved. If we’d won it on penalties, we’d have taken it, of course, because of how important that is. But we’d have covered over the cracks, to be honest. “I’m mortified by the performance. I know you can lose games of football, but we should have enough in the building to take care of that tonight. “Yes, there’s been a big turnover of players. Yes, we looked very inexperienced at times. But the responsibility is mine to make sure that we are better than what we served up tonight. And we were miles short, miles short. “I’ll take responsibility for the result, but the responsibility is shared. The players have got to be better than that. We know that. It’s my job to help the players but they’ve got to help themselves as well. “It’s such a low point. I’m embarrassed with the result. I’m gutted for the supporters because they’ve come here. We come over on a charter flight, we stay in a nice hotel, we get all the preparation, and they come here whatever way they can. “They don’t always need to see their team perform brilliantly, but they do deserve to see their team perform way better than that. For that, it’s not good enough.”
Gray Admits European Exit is “going to sting” Following Defeat
David Gray believes his Hibs side deserved more as they were knocked out by slim margins last night. Hibs managed to come away with a goalless draw in the first leg in Belgium, but two late goals in the capital ended the European dream for the Easter Road side. The Hibees went into the game full of confidence, with David Gray describing it as a “cup final.” Hibs fell behind not long before the break, as Vergara put the visitors ahead. Hibs came out looking like a whole new side, as the Hibees scored twice through Kerr and Passlack to lead in the tie, but two late goals by Burgess and a Chaiwa own goal, moments before the midfielder saw red, sealed the pain for the Edinburgh side. “It’s really hard to put it into words, in terms of the feeling in the group,” said Gray. “It hurts, it’s going to sting. It’s hard to be critical of the players over the effort they’ve put in. I think over the two legs we deserved to go through. “It’s tough to take because I don’t think we got what we deserved for our second-half performance. “The second half was exactly what was required because we were behind in the tie – we had energy, belief and the desire. “The tie was decided in two massive moments at the end of the game, we lost a goal from a set-piece then went up the other end and had the best chance of the game (for Callum Wright) to win it 3-2. “Unfortunately, we’ve been done by extremely fine margins. Across the two legs I thought we were worthy of going through. “People don’t want to hear me talk about positives right now but I think in time we’ll see there were. “Physically, we looked good; we didn’t just sit in and defend. I think we demonstrated what we can do tonight, against a team who play in Europe regularly. “If we were outclassed, outplayed or outfought or there was a gulf between the teams I’d say that, but I didn’t feel that was the case.” David Gray wasn’t prepared to criticize Chaiwa despite an own-goal and a late sending off. “Miguel covered every blade of grass but in the last minute in his recovery he put it into his own net,” David Gray stated. “It’s my job, the staff’s job to get around the players. The big thing in these moments is we stick together, the big characters need to pick the other ones up. That’s also my job and my staff’s job.”