cinch Championship – Partick Thistle v Inverness CT (Friday – 7:45pm, BBC Scotland)
Friday night football returns to Firhill this evening, as the Jags of Partick meet the Caley Jags of Inverness in what is sure to be a cracker!
Partick Thistle are aiming high in 22/23, with promotion to the cinch Premiership their goal. An impressive showing in the Premier Sports Cup group stage saw Ian McCall’s side qualify for the second round as Group B winners but the opening three games of the league campaign have proven to be a bit of a mixed bag. An impressive 3-2 opening-day win at Dens Park was followed up with a 1-1 draw against Hamilton Accies and a disappointing 3-2 loss to Queen’s Park last time out. On paper, Thistle have one of the strongest squads in the division, with goalscoring firepower up top and a solid defensive rearguard. A feel-good home win against Caley would send the Jags to the top of the table and potentially kick-start the side’s promotion push in what will no doubt be a season with plenty of twists and turns at the top of the Championship.
Last season saw play-off heartbreak for the Caley Jags. Valiant efforts in the quarter and semi-finals, before being beaten by a defiant St Johnstone side in the final. Billy Dodds has recruited well in the summer. Namely, bringing the returns of winger Daniel Mackay on loan from Hibernian and fans’ favourite forward George Oakley from Woking in the National League. Caley head into tonight’s game still to taste defeat in the league this season. A pair of draws against Queen’s Park and Arbroath preceded last weekend’s 4-1 thrashing of newly-promoted Cove Rangers at the Caledonian Stadium. If Caley can get to the levels they showed last Saturday, they’ll have every chance of leaving Maryhill with all three points.
cinch League 1 – Kelty Hearts v Dunfermline Athletic (Saturday – 3:00pm)
Two sets of cinch League 1 newcomers face off in the first Fife derby of the season, as L2 champions Kelty Hearts welcome league leaders Dunfermline Athletic to New Central Park.
When you look at the history of both clubs, it is remarkable that they now share a division. This is a testament to the incredible rapid rise of Kelty Hearts from the Junior leagues to the third tier of the SPFL in a matter of a few years. However, the Maroon Machine have experienced a difficult start to life in cinch League 1. Three defeats in their opening three games leaves Kelty at the bottom of the division. Saturday’s derby clash will be seen as an opportunity to cause a huge upset, with former Pars favourites such as Joe Cardle, Kallum Higginbotham and Lewis Martin all out to prove a point. Winning can become a habit in football, but so can losing. Kelty will need to be at their very best to ensure that their losing streak ends this weekend.
2021/22 was a season to forget for Dunfermline Athletic. Peter Grant assembled a squad in the summer of 2021 which, on paper, looked as if it could challenge for the Championship title. But bad luck and a bad run of form saw the Pars’ title chances dwindle on a weekly basis before having to face the reality that they were in a relegation dogfight. Heartbreak in the play-offs against Queen’s Park saw the Pars return to the third tier for the first time since 2016. The summer months have brought about a new air of optimism at East End. New boss James McPake has assembled a squad which looks like it has every chance of bouncing back at the first time of asking, with Dunfermline leading the division with a 100% record. Saturday’s short trip to Kelty will prove a difficult test, but it is winning games like this which often proves to be the difference in a team’s title charge in the long run.
cinch League 2 – Elgin City v Stranraer (Saturday – 3:00pm)
Saturday sees the longest trip in the SPFL this season, as Stranraer make the 268-mile trip to Borough Briggs in Elgin.
It’s been an eventful start to the season for Elgin, who have scored in every league game so far, but have only collected two points from a possible nine, leaving them ninth in cinch League 2. Defeated 3-1 by East Fife on day one, they followed this up by taking a two-goal lead against Stirling at Forthbank, only to be pegged back to 2-2. Last week, they again took the lead through Kane Hester, then Russell Dingwall from the spot, but were again left with only a point to show for their efforts after Ben Armour equalised for Forfar. Not only that, but City finished the game with nine men after a sending off in each half from first Brian Cameron, and Angus Mailer late on. Elgin struggled against Stranraer last season, earning only a point across the four fixtures, so they’ll be looking to turn that around on Saturday.
After a positive opening day, collecting all three points against the much-fancied Annan Athletic, Stranraer lost at Forfar. Only a last-minute penalty from cinch League 2 new boys Bonnyrigg Rose denied the Blues consecutive home wins last time out. Stranraer find themselves with a challenging run of fixtures ahead in a tightly-contested league, facing East Fife, Stenhousemuir, Dumbarton and Stirling, with a fixture against Edinburgh City in the SPFL Trust Trophy in between. Jamie Hamill’s men will be looking to build momentum and overcome the disappointment of the late penalty against Bonnyrigg in a fixture which could propel them up the table.
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