Arthur McKay Scottish Cup Final Preview – Kelburne

With the Aberdeen Asset Management National League Division 1 title in the bag for a ninth season running, Glyhill Hotel Kelburne are aiming to continue re-writing the history books by achieving back-to-back double winning seasons with a successful defence of the Arthur McKay Scottish Cup on Saturday 25 May.
Following a dramatic last minute winner from Scotland and Great Britain U21 international Alan Forsyth in last season’s final against Grange, the Paisley outfit return to Peffermill this weekend for a showpiece finale against Division 1 rivals Grove Menzieshill. The objective is clear; to try and retain their crown and add to an ever-growing list of club honours.
“We’re now going for back-to-back doubles and I think it would mean a tremendous amount to Kelburne”, said Kelburne Manager and President Harry Coles. “We won the league and Scottish Cup last season and there are very few opportunities you get in a lifetime to achieve back-to-back doubles. So it’s a very important game to Kelburne and hopefully we can come away having achieved that feat.
“The league is always the priority for Kelburne but we always want to win the cup if at all possible. It’s a big ask for any club to achieve both in one season but certainly we’ll be going all out to achieve that aim.”
Kelburne will start the match as favourites, particularly as they’ve achieved two wins over Chris Anderson’s side in the league this season; a 4-0 win at Bellahoustan last November was followed up with a 2-0 away win at DISC in the final match of the 2012/13 campaign.
“We played them [Grove Menzieshill] a few weeks ago in the final match of the season, which we won, but to be fair to both teams we were both missing a few big players so I don’t think that that particular game will have an effect on this one”, continued Coles.
“I feel that given our good form this season that we should have the upper hand in attack but they are very capable of scoring a few goals themselves so we will need to have our ‘A’ game on show to come away with the silverware at the end of the day.”
The confidence that Coles exuberates is reflected in the manner of his players, and rightly so given that they have gone an entire domestic season unbeaten and also reached the last 16 of the EHL in continental competition. Not to mention that the champions have scored a bucketful of goals on the road to the final, a fantastic forty-nine goals in four rounds, with none conceded.
“I think we’re always confident of trying to keep a clean sheet”, said Kelburne captain and goalkeeper Mark Fulton.
“They [Grove Menzieshill] are a good side, they’ve got a good short corner routine but I think one of the reasons we didn’t concede against them this season is that we’ve defended well as a team so we’ll go into this game with that sort of intensity. It’s a team game and the guys have been fantastic defensively this season and it’s something that we work on lot on in training.
“We always try to score more goals that the other teams so as long as we score one more goal that the opposition, that’s the main thing. Doesn’t matter who we play against, we always set out to win the game. We’ll be attacking and as long as we score goals, we’re confident we’ll get the result”, concluded the Paisley shot-stopper.
Scotland international and Kelburne defender William Marshall also echoed the thoughts of his captain as he looked forward to this weekend’s contest.
“Every game that Kelburne have gone into, maybe over the last six years, I think we’ve been favourites in both the league and cup”, said Marshall.  “Our record in both competitions shows that we deserve to be favourites and we go into the final with a positive attitude to the game.
“Our record against Grove Menzieshill is good. I think it will be a hard game; they’ve got good players and are difficult to break down.  However, I think the attacking prowess we have far exceeds anyone in the league so I think it will also be a tough game for them. I think we’ll come out on top in the end.”
Kelburne
Mark Fulton, Mark Ralph, Ian Horsfield, Adam Bain, Michael Christie, Ross McIntyre, Scott Sutherland, William Marshall, Alan Forsyth, Jonny Christie, David Forsyth, Michael Nicol, Ed Greaves, Jack McKenzie, Jack McAllister.
Road to the Final:
Glynhill Hotel Kelburne 15-0 Alpha Data Carnegie
Waverley Inveresk Trinity 0-20 Glynhill Hotel Kelburne
Glynhill Hotel Kelburne 5-0 Watsonians
Western Wildcats 0-9 Glynhill Hotel Kelburne

With the Aberdeen Asset Management National League Division 1 title in the bag for a ninth season running, Glynhill Hotel Kelburne are aiming to continue re-writing the history books by achieving back-to-back double winning seasons with a successful defence of the Men’s Arthur McKay Scottish Cup on Saturday 25 May.

Following a dramatic last minute winner from Scotland and Great Britain U21 international Alan Forsyth in last season’s final against Grange, the Paisley outfit return to Peffermill this weekend for a showpiece finale against Division 1 rivals Grove Menzieshill.

The objective is clear; to try and retain their crown and add to an ever-growing list of club honours.

“We’re now going for back-to-back doubles and I think it would mean a tremendous amount to Kelburne”, said Kelburne Manager and President Harry Coles.

“We won the league and Scottish Cup last season and there are very few opportunities you get in a lifetime to achieve back-to-back doubles. So it’s a very important game to Kelburne and hopefully we can come away having achieved that feat.

“The league is always the priority for Kelburne but we always want to win the cup if at all possible. It’s a big ask for any club to achieve both in one season but certainly we’ll be going all out to achieve that aim.”

Kelburne will start the match as favourites, particularly as they’ve achieved two wins over Chris Anderson’s side in the league this season; a 4-0 win at Bellahoustan last November was followed up with a 2-0 away win at DISC in the final match of the 2012/13 campaign.

“We played them [Grove Menzieshill] a few weeks ago in the final match of the season, which we won, but to be fair to the two teams we were both missing a few big players so I don’t think that that particular game will have an effect on this one”, continued Coles.

“I feel that given our good form this season that we should have the upper hand in attack but they are very capable of scoring a few goals themselves so we will need to have our ‘A’ game on show to come away with the silverware at the end of the day.”

The confidence that Coles exhibits is reflected in the manner of his players, and rightly so given that they have gone an entire domestic season unbeaten and also reached the last 16 of the EHL in continental competition. Not to mention that the champions have scored a bucketful of goals on the road to the final, a fantastic forty-nine goals in four rounds, with none conceded.

“I think we’re always confident of trying to keep a clean sheet”, said Kelburne captain and goalkeeper Mark Fulton.

Mark Fulton Kelburne

“They [Grove Menzieshill] are a good side, they’ve got a good short corner routine but I think one of the reasons we didn’t concede against them this season is that we’ve defended well as a team so we’ll go into this game with that sort of intensity. It’s a team game and the guys have been fantastic defensively this season and it’s something that we work on lot on in training.

“We always try to score more goals that the other teams so as long as we score one more goal that the opposition, that’s the main thing. Doesn’t matter who we play against, we always set out to win the game. We’ll be attacking and as long as we score goals, we’re confident we’ll get the result”, concluded the Paisley shot-stopper.

Scotland international and Kelburne defender William Marshall also echoed the thoughts of his captain as he looked forward to this weekend’s contest.

Willie Marshall Kelburne

“Every game that Kelburne have gone into, maybe over the last six years, I think we’ve been favourites in both the league and cup”, said Marshall.

“Our record in both competitions shows that we deserve to be favourites and we go into the final with a positive attitude to the game.

“Our record against Grove Menzieshill is also good. I think it will be a hard game; they’ve got good players and are difficult to break down.  However, I think the attacking prowess we have far exceeds anyone in the league so I think it will also be a tough game for them. I think we’ll come out on top in the end.”

Glynhill Hotel Kelburne

Mark Fulton, Mark Ralph, Ian Horsfield, Adam Bain, Michael Christie, Ross McIntyre, Scott Sutherland, William Marshall, Alan Forsyth, Jonny Christie, David Forsyth, Michael Nicol, Ed Greaves, Jack McKenzie, Jack McAllister (probably line-up).

Road to the Final:

Last 32: Glynhill Hotel Kelburne 15-0 Alpha Data Carnegie

Last 16: Waverley Inveresk Trinity 0-20 Glynhill Hotel Kelburne

QF: Glynhill Hotel Kelburne 5-0 Watsonians

SF: Western Wildcats 0-9 Glynhill Hotel Kelburne

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