Fawlty approach suits Lossiemouth boss
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IT WAS sitcom classic Fawlty Towers’ hapless Spanish waiter Manuel who adopted the phrase “I know nothing” when it came to answering questions posed to him by his madcap hotel boss.
So perhaps Lossiemouth fans will accuse their manager Charlie Charlesworth of a ‘Fawlty’ approach to this weekend’s Scottish Cup tie when he admits his dossier on opponents Auchinleck Talbot is a blank piece of paper.
Whether it’s a touch of kidology or not on Charlesworth’s behalf, the Coasters’ boss insists he knows nothing about the Ayrshire side, and believes that will suit his players when it comes to taking on last season’s Scottish Junior Cup winners.
Lossie will be big underdogs when they tackle junior cracks Talbot, who thrashed Fort William 7-0 and ousted Huntly 4-3 on their last Scottish Cup adventure two seasons ago.
But after watching his team pull off an impressive 3-1 Highland League win away to Cove Rangers last Saturday, Charlesworth is concentrating on his own team’s strengths rather than his opponents’.
“Generally speaking, the less my players know about them will actually help them as opposed to hinder them,” Charlesworth claimed.
“I don’t mean it in an ignorant way, but what I’ve said to my players is to concentrate on what we’ve got to do and let them think about us, rather than us thinking about them.
“I haven’t had the chance to have Auchinleck watched and I’ll be quite open and honest about that. It’s fair to say we’ll be underdogs on the day but we’ve hit a purple patch the last couple of weeks, so we just need to look after ourselves.”
The Coasters’ boss was thrilled to see his team defeat big-spending Formartine a fortnight ago, and even more encouraged by the victory at Aberdonians Cove on Saturday.
An early Nikki Smith penalty and a strike by skipper Martin McMullan on 20 minutes had the Coasters in command, particularly when Cove had defender Eric Watson red-carded for a wild tackle on McMullan.
Ten-man Cove pulled one back before the break, but Ricky Wardrop restored Lossie’s two-goal lead and when the home team also had Kevin Small and Jamie Beagrie sent packing late on, the Moray men were safely on their way to the three points.
“It was hard to contain our excitement after a result like that,” Charlesworth admitted. “Those are the kind of scores we kind of wish for, and they don’t come along too often.
For more on this story and Scottish Cup previews, see Friday's Northern Scot.
