Gala Fairydean Rovers offering free entry for last home game of Scottish Lowland Football League season and hoping for big show of support

A rejig of the league introducing 14 new teams and sparing Fairydean from relegation to the East of Scotland Football League’s premier division is expected to get the go-ahead this week but as things stand at the moment, they’re at risk of going down if they can’t get themselves off the foot of the table by a week on Saturday.

Manager Martin Scott’s men are currently three points behind second-from-bottom Broomhill in the relegation spot at the foot of the standings but the Dumbarton side are their next opponents, coming calling this Saturday, with kick-off at 3pm, offering an opportunity to leapfrog them in the table if they win as their goal difference of -27 is five better than that of their visitors and possibly even go up to 16th place, depending on how third-from-bottom Cumbernauld Colts get on away to tenth-placed Bo’ness United at the same time.

Rovers are on 25 points at present, with Broomhill and Cumbernauld level on 28, their respective goal differences being -32 and, like Gala, -27, all three having played 32 games, with two left to go.

The Borders halved the gap to Broomhill with a 1-0 win away to Stirling University on Saturday, thanks to a 70th-minute Jared Lyons goal, at the same time as the West Dunbartonshire side, formerly known as BSC Glasgow, were being beaten 1-0 at home to East Stirlingshire.

A win this Saturday would see Gala’s fight to avoid ending up bottom of the table go the wire and potentially be decided by their season finale away to 14th-placed Gretna 2008 on Saturday, April 19, also with kick-off at 3pm.

That day’s fixture card also sees Broomhill at home to Edinburgh’s eighth-placed Civil Service Strollers and Cumbernauld hosting fifth-placed Linlithgow Rose.

Offering free entry to Netherdale Stadium this Saturday instead of the usual £10 or £5 charged for admission, or £1 for under-16s, has been made possible by Gala Fairydean Rovers Community Trust, the club’s charity wing, covering match-day costs and anti-religious bigotry charity Nil by Mouth sponsoring the game.

Urging Borderers to get behind their team, chairman Ryan Cass said: “I was so pleased for the management team and the players for getting the result at Stirling on Saturday.

“The players got stuck in on Saturday and it was a great three points.

“This Saturday’s match against Broomhill is massive and we are hoping to attract a big crowd to cheer the team on and ensure the Borders still have a club in the Lowland League.

“The trust does so much good work looking after our amateurs team, youth set-up, ladies and girls’ sections, disability team and the walking football group and we are grateful once again for their support for Saturday’s game and also for that of Nil by Mouth, one of our key sponsors.”

Saturday’s victory against the Stirling students was Gala’s fourth on the bounce in the league and also their fourth clean sheet on the trot against them.

November’s reverse fixture saw Rovers run up a scoreline of 5-0, with Lewis Hall getting a hat-trick and Michael Beagley and Keaghan Jacobs on target too.

That followed wins the season before by 1-0 away last March and 2-0 at home in September 2023, with Sam Young scoring last year and Jamie Semple and Gospel Ocholi five months prior.

Rovers go into their penultimate game of this campaign on the back of two losses to the Dumbarton club, by 3-2 away in November and 7-2 at home last March.

Ben Reilly got both of their goals in this season’s reverse fixture, with Callum McKenzie scoring twice for their hosts and Cameron Rowley netting too.

Sam Nicholson and Che Reilly scored for Gala the preceding March, with Josh Jack and Corey O’Donnell at the double, Scott Roberts, Ross Smith and Max Wright on target at the other end of the pitch.

Fairydean, one of 12 founder members of the Lowland League in 2013, are the Borders’ sole survivors a dozen years on, following exits for Hawick Royal Albert in 2018, Selkirk in 2019 and Vale of Leithen in 2022.

See also …

https://www.thesouthernreporter.co.uk/sport/football/league-rejig-sparing-gala-fairydean-rovers-from-relegation-expected-to-be-approved-this-week-5070552