Colony boss hopes cup foes won't see his team for Ash
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COLONY Park manager Richard Davidson says his youngsters will need to learn life in the fast lane if they are to make headway in the Scottish Junior Cup.
The Inverurie side's clash with Ashfield had been switched north after the Glasgow outfit – who bizarrely groundshare their Peugeot Stadium with the Glasgow Tigers speedway team – said it was not financially viable to host the game due to gate receipts having to be split between themselves, Colony and the stadium owners.
And 'Titch' is counting on his charges to be out of the grid sharp if they are to take pole position in the tie.
He said: “We class them as youngsters but the guys we have are 18 or 19 now so they really should be stepping up and using this as a challenge, especially against a decent Glasweigian team that will come and give you no easy passes or ball play.
“They're going to have to work hard and earn their corn.
“I'm looking forward to it, hopefully we can get a bit of legs and a bit of youth on the park to see where it takes us.”
The former Locos skipper said it has been difficult to get the lowdown on Ashfield, who play in the fourth tier of the Junior's West Region.
However he admits that the downpour that hit Aberdeenshire last Friday evening into Saturday was somewhat of a blessing as he can now call on a fully-complimented squad.
He added: “I've been looking at their results and their player stats.
“I had some intel for last week's game and I believe their keeper was due to be missing with another couple away for a wedding.
“With that game being postponed chances are they'll be at full strength.
“But this is a good opportunity to look at my squad and say 'look boys, we're going into the unknown, just go out and play the 11 guys you're up against.
“In saying that, if the game had been last weekend I would have been going with about 13 players – we had eight or nine guys missing.
“This weekend I'll probably be at full strength with guys sitting out of the squad, but it's a better headache to have then scratching about with guys unavailable.
He continued: “This is unfortunately the way the Junior season goes.
“We're coming into October where certain cup games have to be played, conditions become restricted with weather and the football is stop-start, which is disheartening for the players as the league is the bread and butter.
“It gives me the opportunity to look at players within the squad that maybe haven't been getting games.
“We have to be realistic – we aren't going to win the Scottish Cup, we want to progress as far as we can but we use it as a tool to get boys back match sharp.
“In fairness to the youngsters, the majority of them have been playing quite regularly as they deserve to play.”
