Queen’s Park goal-grabber Jamie Longworth will come across old friends when Irvine Meadow become the first Junior side to visit Hampden on senior Scottish Cup duty in a Second Round tie this weekend.
Longworth was a regular goalscorer with another Ayrshire Junior side, Kilbirnie Ladeside, for three years before he moved to the Spiders in the summer of 2010 and he knows that his team will need to play well to mow down the Meadow.
Longworth said: “This is a tough draw for us as Irvine Meadow have been a strong Junior side for a few years. I played against them often enough for Kilbirnie and usually ended up on the losing side. They have continued to be strong since I stepped up to Queen’s Park and they won the West Super League title last season.
“They have a good number of former senior professionals in their side and some of the best Junior players around. Two of my best pals, Liam McGuiness and John Paul McKeever, are there and they are more than decent players and will be going all out to get one over me.”
The striker did grab some success against Meadow in the past saying: “I have scored against them and I have been in sides that have beaten them but they held the upper hand. I was in the Juniors for three years and in my first season, we were in the same division. It was just the Ayrshire District then and two seasons later, we had been promoted to join them in the West of Scotland Super League Premier Division that had been established the season before.
“I had to be on the top of my game to get a goal against them as they always had experienced defenders and usually ones that had played senior. You would maybe get one or two sniffs in a game and that was all.
"There were always a lot of cup ties to meet them in as well and I remember that we did very well in the Ardagh Glass competition against them and knocked them out of that.”
Longworth, who attracted the interest of Queen of the South when he was banging in goals for Ladeside, was asked about the possibility of donning the colours of Saturday’s rivals and he said: “The Manager there, Chris Strain, and I had one very brief chat a few years ago about my plans for the new season. It never really went anywhere and shortly afterwards, I got the chance to join Queen’s Park and play in the SFL which I took straight away.”
To get a measure of how strong Irvine Meadow are, Longworth said: “We had quite a decent side at Kilbirnie then with Mark Crilly, who had played at St. Mirren and other SFL clubs and is now in charge at Kilbirnie, in our midfield. He played alongside David Anderson, who was the Player of the Year here at Hampden last season, and David Gray, who was with Dumbarton last season and scored a penalty for Montrose against Berwick the other week.”
“We also had big Chris Erskine, who is doing great things for Partick Thistle just now. Chris and I were in the same boys club together and actually joined Kilbirnie at the same time.”
Longworth added: “Another thing in their favour is that they play on what is probably the best surface in the Juniors. I have been told their groundsman used to make Rugby Park one of the best surfaces in the SPL and has carried on at Meadow Park.
“They will be impressed by the facilities at Hampden but they will be thinking that the pitch is just what they are used to.”
Longworth is glad the game is at his side’s ground as he explained: “I am delighted this game is at Hampden as whilst their will not be much difference in the pitch, the fans will not be on top of us as they are at a Junior game. They are a good bit further away at Hampden and I am sure that they will bring a big support up with them and will be making it a gala day out.”
The 25-year-old added: “They defeated Arbroath before in the Scottish Cup and did well against Hibs a couple of years ago and that is a real warning to us. Of course, Auchinleck Talbot did really well last season before losing by one nil to Hearts, who ended up winning the Scottish Cup last season, so we might be top of the Third Division but we cannot treat this game lightly in any way.”
The Spiders, ironically the third highest winners of this knock-out competition with 10 successes, know what it is like to lose out to a Junior side already as they went down 2-1 to the then East Region Junior Champions Bo’ness United two years ago.
Longworth said: “That was a disappointing day for everyone at our club but again it shows that there is no easy tie in the Scottish Cup.”
The movement of the players to the ranks of the SFL that Longworth talked about is proof that the Junior ranks can be a happy hunting ground with the frontman saying: “Perceptions are changing about the standard of Junior football. Junior clubs are well organised so I would reckon it is not too bad a place to go looking for talent.
“At Queen’s Park as well as David and I, we have our goalkeeper Neil Parry, who moved here from Arthurlie. Craig Smith has been at the club for a couple of years and he was with Ashfield and Michael Keenan joined this summer from Arthurlie and he has not missed a game yet.”
Longworth comes across other old faces as well as he said: “When Stranraer were in the Third Division, I would be playing against Sean Winter and Craig Malcolm, who also came through the Junior ranks. The fact that these guys are now in their third year of playing in the SFL emphasises the quality and consistency that they must have.”
For the Spiders, it will bring to an end a week where they won well up at Elgin with Longworth scoring twice in a 4-0 success and then played SPL St. Johnstone at McDiarmid Park in The Scottish Communities League Cup.
The striker said: “We lost 4-1 to St. Johnstone but they scored twice after Andrew Roberston was sent off. It is not so much moving from playing a top tier side to playing a Junior one that we need to handle, it is moving from being massive underdogs to favourites that will be a test.
“It is a really tough game and we cannot sit back and think things are going to happen, we need to make them happen.”
One game where the Spiders did make things happen recently was when they knocked Dundee out of The Scottish Communities League Cup with a 2-1 scoreline. The Dark Blues led at Hampden through a Stevie Milne goal before Longworth grabbed the equaliser from the penalty spot after Dundee defender, Neil McGregor, had conceded the penalty and had also been sent off in the process.
The former Kilbirnie player then set up the chance for Sean Burns to score the winner and it was a special night in more ways than one.
Longworth said:“I got brought down for the penalty and was desperate to take it as I wanted to say that I had scored past Rab Douglas. He was a hero of mine when I was a teenager and has played in a UEFA Cup Final so to net past him was a great moment.”
This weekend it will be Irvine’s Michael Wardrope that Longworth and his team-mates will need to get the better of and he knows that it will almost be as hard as scoring past a former Scotland internationalist as he explained: “Michael was always a good goalkeeper when I played against him before and I was always happy if I could net past him as a Kilbirnie Ladeside player. A goal against him as a Queen’s Park player would be great as well providing, of course, we win.”
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