TNS face Airdrieonians in the final of the SPFL Trust Trophy at the Falkirk Community Stadium.
The Cymru Premier and Nathaniel MG Cup winners are on the hunt for their third trophy of the season and standing in their way are a side that are outside contenders for the Scottish Premiership next season.
TNS could become the first team from outside of Scotland to win the competition. They come into the game having won 1-0 against Newtown.
Just who are Airdrieonians however? Thanks to Colin Telford, from the ‘Only the Lonely‘ podcast for his insight into Airdrie.
What’s your personal opinion of the inclusion of non-Scottish teams in the SPFL Trust Trophy?
I don’t speak for everyone, but I quite like the novelty of non-Scottish clubs in the competition. Since that decision was made, Airdrie have had home ties against Sutton United and Bohemians and now face TNS in the final (we dream of an away day but that hasn’t come our way yet).
“Foreign” teams bring a freshness, especially in structure which sees us play rival clubs four times in the league, potentially a further two times in the playoffs and with an outside chance of facing each other in a cup competition.
On the downside, there isn’t that much money in the Scottish Leagues. Although the winner of the final takes home the relatively small pot of £50k, it does feel odd to give that money to a team outside of our organisation.
Much less popular is the inclusion of “B” teams in the competition which is almost universally unpopular amongst lower league fans.
On balance, I would scrap B Teams and non-Scottish teams but have a Champions of Champions tournament for the Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish and Irish Cup Champions. I think that could be a really attractive proposition and save a lot of logistical headaches if space could be found in busy fixture lists.
You’re also in the race for the playoffs, having only been promoted last season. A cup final and a play-off push, has this season gone way better than expected?
Massively so. We’re a bit of a throwback to simpler times. A player-manager, a player assistant manager, and lots of young loanees/players released by bigger clubs. We finished third in the league below and are presently sitting fourth with a stronger performance in every cup without having signed any players with experience at a higher level.
Even losing the final and dropping down as low as eighth in a very tight league would be a successful season if you look at it rationally.
Who wants to be rational in football though, either a victory in the final or making the play-offs would be a terrific outcome. Doing both would be sensational and sneaking a promotion to the Scottish Premiership would be beyond any supporter’s wildest dreams.
You face TNS. Do you consider yourselves firm favourites? What’s the perception of them in Scotland?
Not firm favourites but I’d say we’re cautiously optimistic. We’ve been on good form for the last month, we’re performing at a higher level and we’ll have a decent crowd (by our modest standards) along for the game.
Not enough to have any confidence in how the sides will fair against each other!!
We know that they are the Super Power in the Welsh League, awarded Infamy by Jeff Stelling and, until very recently world record holders for consecutive wins.
Most of us will have watched the semi-final performance against Falkirk which was impressive. The style of football seemed similar to ours and with the match being played at the same venue we’d expect both teams to get the ball down and pass it around.
Embed from Getty ImagesNikolay Todorov and Callum Gallagher are the obvious dangerous men. How much of a threat will they be? And what are their key strengths? Should TNS also be wary of Craig Watson? A centre-back with five goals.
Todorov has been in Scotland from his Native Bulgaria for a long time now. He’s big, can seem ungainly but he can finish and giving him space anywhere near the box is not a good idea.
Ideally, we would play him with Gabby McGill or Lewis McGregor who are industrious and offer pace, they are both injured though with only McGregor having an outside chance of having any involvement.
Callum Gallagher was League 1 player of the season in our promotion year but suffers from being too similar to Todorov.
Airdrie’s player-manager Rhys McCabe is a free-kick specialist and anything from 35 yards in he could trouble a goalie.
Otherwise, there’s an Aerial threat from defence with Callum Fordyce, Mason Hancock and Craig Watson all capable of getting on the end of a set piece.
Embed from Getty ImagesAny bit of team news? Such as who might be missing this weekend.
Notable that Airdrie are without two of their loanees for the game with Kanayo Megwa (right back) and Aaron Lyall (centre mid) who are cup-tied from having played with Hibernian B and Rangers B respectfully prior to joining Airdrie.
Airdrie also lost first-choice goalie Josh Rae to a head injury. The club had Ibsen running with the goalie coach filling in as Sub Goalie and historically had been able to get emergency loanees in where necessary.
They have signed Robbie Hemfrey who was a free agent. He’d spent time at Stoke and Rotherham but has played only two senior games including his debut for Airdrie at the weekend so is untested
Airdrieonians predicted XI
Airdrieonians (4-1-3-1-1): Hemfrey; Ballatyne, Watson, Fordyce, Hancock; McCabe; Telfer, McMaster, McStravick; Frizzell, Todorov. (Featured Image: Jim Smillie / Excelsior Stadium / CC BY-SA 2.0)
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