Cowie Thistle are one step closer to potentially retaining the Aberdeen FC Trophy following a rousing victory over Stoneywood East End, which has seen them into a quarter-final tie with Echt, this week NE98 speaks to Cowie boss Ross Adie.
Liam Smith grabbed himself the match ball with a hat-trick, with Craig Buchannan, Craig Irvine and Ronan Masson all also getting themselves on the scoresheet as Cowie beat Stoneywood East End 8-2 in the fourth round of the Aberdeen FC Trophy – which they won last year.
NE98 had the chance to catch up with Thistle’s manager Ross Adie, who described the result as “ A very good win against a team that usually cause us problems.”
He said:
“We got two very early goals and that got the lads’ confidence up and from there we never looked in much danger.”
“The conditions were terrible with the constant wind and rain, but we played some great football at times
“We won the AFC Trophy last year, it was good to finally win the trophy again after losing three or four times in the final in the past few years.”
“We’ve won a trophy in each year I’ve been manager.”
Adie mentioned that Cowie wouldn’t be getting ahead of themselves, while they’d love to retain the cup, there is plenty of football still to be played.
He said:
“We have Echt in the quarter final (who beat us in another cup already this season) So we can’t look any further than that round.”
Finally, Adie has been very pleased with how many goal threats his side currently possess, with the team scoring 105 goals between them already this term.
“It definitely helps to have so many scorers, our top scorer nearly every season is Craig Irvine, and he’s top scorer again, with 25 goals. Everyone has been contributing from all areas of the park, for example midfielders Liam Smith & Robbie Lovick.”
Cowie don’t have any competitive action this weekend, although they do have a mid-week friendly this week against an Aberdeenshire AFA select.
Stonehaven have given themselves another shot in the arm for SuperLeague survival, with a massive win over Montrose Roselea.
Martyn Rollo’s Stoney propelled themselves up to tenth – three points clear of the automatic relegation zones following beating Roselea, who are third, 3-1.
Calum Watson, who has been a handful since joining mid-season scored a brace, with Rob Armstrong notching the other goal.
Stonehaven have now beaten the teams in fourth place and third place, back to back – impressive results for a side battling relegation.
No team in the league have played more games than Stonehaven, with the likes of Maud having five games in hand. So Stoney could fall back into relegation zones without even playing, but with so many sides in and about that area, they still have a good chance to staying up.
It’s a weekend off from Stonehaven this weekend, but with Ellon playing East End – with both battling relegation, and another drop battler Maud hosting high flying Culter – the Stoney squad will surely have a keen eye on the results coming in on Saturday.
Stonehaven Ladies faced a humbling 6-0 defeat to Aberdeen Women this weekend. A Bayley Hutchison hat-trick inspired the Dons to the win, with Aberdeen favourites to win the league in the SWFL Division One North, it’s not a defeat Stonehaven will take to heart.
Matt Smith’s side also have a chance for some rest this weekend, with no league action in the Women’s ranks scheduled.
All other Mearns fixtures were unfortunately called off, due to the adverse weather this past weekend.
Plenty of youth games suffered from the weather this weekend, which included Stonehaven United YFC’s 17’s game Vs Greyhope Boys on Saturday.
Games fared slightly better on Sunday, while Stonehaven’s Under 15’s game Vs Nicolls Youth, the under 14’s game against Huntly, and Under 13’s and under 12’s games were all called off – Bervie Caley’s game in the Under 13’s did go ahead, with Caley thrashing Ellon Meadows 10-1.
Here are the fixtures for the Mearns teams this weekend…
St Laurence Vs Rothie Rovers, Amateur Premier Divison, Mearns Academy, Laurencekirk, Wednesday 8PM
Old Aberdonains Vs St Laurence, Amateur Premier Division, Balgownie Aberdeen, Saturday 2PM
Kaimhill Vs AC Mill Inn, Kaimhill, Aberdeen, Saturday 2PM
Stonehaven Athletic Vs Faithlie United, Jim Glennie Park, Stonehaven, Saturday 2PM
NE98 