East Kilbride were relegated from the West of Scotland League Super League First Division last season and like ourselves, were involved in a very tight relegation battle that went right down to the wire. Indeed if it hadn’t been for goal difference we could have found ourselves two divisions apart today instead of playing each other!
The visitors had spent the previous four seasons in the Super League so we haven’t played them for a while, they have been relatively successful with three top half finishes in that spell. The “other” Jags have had a miserable season but have picked up a bit lately starting with a 5-1 win at St Roch’s.
About East Kilbride Thistle:
Founded: 1968
Ground: The Showpark, The Village, East Kilbride
Managers: Brian McMillan & Mark Wilson
Home colours: Black and White stripes
Away colours: All Red
Honours:
Scottish Junior Cup 1983
Central League Division 1 1992-93
West of Scotland Cup 1973–74
Central League champions 1974–75, 1975–76
Central League A Division winners 4 times
Sectional League Cup: 1974–75, 1982–83, 2002–03
Evening Times Cup Winners Cup: 1982–83
Although East Kilbride Thistle are a relatively new club to the juniors, they have done what many others have failed to do in lifting the highest honour in the junior game. Their proudest moment came as recently as 1983 when they beat Bo’ness 2-0 in the Scotish Cup final at Ibrox.
East Kilbride are currently campaigning to get South Lanarkshire Council to approve plans to redevelop the Showpark into a “community sports hub”. The ambitious plans include 7 and 11-a-side 3G parks as well as a 500-1000 seater stand in the main park. Part of the plan is for Clyde to relocate there and share the ground.
East Kilbride squad:
McGuiness
Kelsall
Emslie
McAneny
Sloan
Borg
Scott
McQueenie
Stewart
McRobert
Hastie
Jeffrey
Smith
Dolan
Gillies
Connolly
Campbell
Douches
Buchanan
McCrae
Martin
Harkins
Bennett
King
Craig
Bolato
Winters
Findlay
McBride
Clarke
East Kilbride were relegated last season from the Super League First Division and have found life just as tough in this division, losing all but one of their 16 games so far. They have been on the wrong end of some bad defeats, the worst of which was our 8-0 away win in the first game of 2013. They did a bit better in the Scottish however, travelling north to Ellon to take on the Aberdeenshire side and came back with a great 2-1 win before losing to Kinnoull in the next round. They also managed a win in the Euroscot Eng Central League Cup against Benburb, the only meeting so far between the sides this season.