There are four good looking ties on the cards for tomorrow, three of which are in the Metrik Office Supplies League. First up is the match of the day at Jocks Loaning between local rivals Lochar Thistle and Maxwelltown Thistle. The two teams will have played each other in the QOS cup on Wednesday night and this will be a chance for the losing team to gain revenge. Lochar must win this match to have a realistic chance of lifting the title, while Maxwelltown have to keep winning and hope their appeal against their points deduction is successful. All the games between the teams have been nip and tuck so far this season and there is nothing to say this won’t be the same. Max defeated Lochar in the British Legion Cup final a few weeks ago but suspensions start tomorrow and they have more players out than Lochar, a draw looks the most likely result.
Upper Annandale, who take on the YMCA at Moffat are another team with a title challenge that is still in full swing. The YM have improved recently but have had setbacks in their last two matches and will have to be in the type of form they were in when they defeated Lochmaben at Whitehills a few weeks ago to have any chance. Uppers have been on a winning run, albeit with a few close shaves on the way and there is no reason to think that the YM could stop their run. A win with several goals to spare for the Moffat team is the most likely result.
Kirkconnel will hope to collect some more points to overhaul the teams above them when they play Morton Thistle at Kelloholm. Morton lost heavily to Max last time out but put up a brave fight and are no pushovers. Kirkconnel managed their first win in the league for some time against the YM last week and have had several more experienced players back in their ranks in recent times. This will be a close one and a scoring draw could see both teams happy with a point.
The final match is in the Tayleurian cup. Lochmaben are at home to Terregles Athletic with a semi-final place up for grabs. Terregles won the most recent match between the pair and play some nice football while Lochmaben have been up and down recently. Terregles also have no players suspended, while Lcohmaben have five out, this may be the deciding factor in this one. My prediction is that Terregles will earn a semi-final berth in a tight match.
With midweek matches now in the mix the teams with the best resources, fewest injuries and most luck will come to the fore. There are still places in four cup finals still to be earned, so every club has all to play for. On the league front there are still several clubs in with a shout. Terregles Athletic lead the pack and if they can win their remaining match away at Moffat they can set a target for the other clubs to aim for. Uppers and Lochar must be the favourites as they have enough games in hand to overhaul Terregles’ total but at this time of the year nothing can be taken for granted and both teams have difficult ties ahead. Lochmaben are longshots as they must win their last two matches and score a lot of goals in the process to have any kind of chance. Maxwelltown will have to rely on something from their appeal to have any chance, however they don’t need all the points back and if they win their remaining two games against Lochar and Uppers may still have an outside chance but their best prospects for silverware may well be in the cup competitions.
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