Rowley brace of spies take on cup job
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TWO scouting trips should have Forres Mechanics well prepared for their tricky Scottish Cup trip to East Kilbride.
Cans boss Charlie Rowley missed his own team’s 6-0 league defeat at Brora on Saturday to head down to Edinburgh and watch Saturday’s cup opponents in action.
He saw East Kilbride lose 2-0 at Preston Athletic, and with Forres coach Charlie Brown also spying on the Lowland League side recently, they have compiled a dossier on them to try and plot their downfall.
Rowley says it will be a very difficult tie for Mechanics and admitted if they manage to take the tie back up to Mosset Park for a replay it wouldn’t be a disaster.
“I just felt that going down there for a second time last week was more important than me being at our game, for obvious reasons,” Rowley said. “We will be as prepared as we can be for Saturday.”
East Kilbride’s deadly weapon could be striker Jack Smith, son of former Dunfermline, Dundee United and Peterhead giant Andy, who has been smashing in the goals to fire them up to second spot in the league this term.
The South Lanarkshire side are skippered by Barry Russell, who recently helped Albion Rovers pull off a major Scottish Cup shock by beating Premiership Motherwell.
Midfielder Sean Winter has played for several Scottish League clubs, including Stranraer last term, while they also have a highly rated young centre back on loan from Celtic.
“It was imperative that we got to see them, given the calibre of players they’ve got at their disposal. They would definitely compete in the Highland League, probably in the top six.
Full story in Northern Scot print version.
