Cup run not as important as league, says Hawick Royal Albert boss Kenny Aitchison after replay defeat

Greg Ford on the ball for Hawick Royal Albert during their 3-0 Scottish Cup preliminary-round replay loss to Carnoustie Panmure at home on Saturday (Photo: Bill McBurnie)

A Scottish Cup preliminary-round replay at home to Carnoustie Panmure after holding them to a 1-1 draw in Angus seven days previously went the visitors’ way 3-0.

On the scoresheet for the Scottish Junior Football Association Midlands League side at Albert Park were Pat Martin on 19 minutes, Jamie Winter on 66 and Dale Reid on 90.

The Royalists’ attention now turns to the South Challenge Cup’s second round and they’re away to West Lothian’s Fauldhouse United this coming Saturday. Kick-off for that tie against the EoSFL third division side is at 2.30pm.

Forward Yuan Fang in possession for Hawick Royal Albert against Carnoustie Panmure (Photo: Bill McBurnie)

Albert coach Kenny Aitchison says a cup run isn’t top of his list of priorities at the moment, however, and is more concerned with getting his team, currently bottom of division two without any points from their four games so far, in shape for a push up the table.

Reviewing Saturday’s cup exit, he said: “It was actually a respectable performance. If you compare our teams – they got 98 points last season and we got 11 – I think it was an expected result.

“They were miles ahead of us. What they had on us was experience and they were a really powerful team in terms of aerial and physical battles, and with us having such a young team, I think the conditions suited them a little bit more and that’s where they got their goals from.

“We were poor going forward but I felt we were good defensively. If we can maintain that level of defensive display, we’ll pick up points this season against more comparable teams.”

New recruit To Hon To in action for Hawick Royal Albert versus Carnoustie Panmure (Photo: Bill McBurnie)

Looking ahead to this Saturday’s cup tie, Aitchison added: “We played Fauldhouse in pre-season and we made lots of changes in that game and we didn’t have as much of a game-plan or strategy as we do now and they beat us 2-0.

“It’s a game I think we can be a bit more adventurous in.

“The cup competition itself I’m not too bothered about, so it affords us an opportunity to try to stick to our defensive principles and can we open up a bit more and can we be a bit more creative and a bit more brave on the ball?

“With the cup game, I’m not going to be too upset about the result. We’ve got Craigroyston at home the following week and then Peebles away from home, so we can take risks and make mistakes against Fauldhouse but use what we learn for the next two games because they’re more important.”