​Gala Fairydean Rovers set to get back on ball after four weeks off

Manager Martin Scott’s side are scheduled to hit the road to table-toppers East Kilbride this weekend for a Scottish Lowland Football League fixture kicking off at K-Park Training Academy at 3pm.

That’ll be their first competitive match for four weeks and they go into it on the back of a winless run of five games in all competitions, the last of them a 2-1 league defeat at Tranent Juniors back on Saturday, November 11.

The Galashiels outfit are currently 11th in the table, with 21 points from 17 fixtures, ten league places and 20 points worse off than their hosts, having played one match more.

The two teams have already met this season, with the Borderers ending up on the wrong end of a 6-1 thumping at home at Netherdale in mid-August, prompting winger Danny Galbraith to reflect: “We were well beaten, in fairness.

“Sometimes you have to hold your hands up and admit you’ve been outplayed in most departments, if not every one, and that was hugely disappointing.

“They’re one of the favourites to win the league for a reason.”

Keir Samson scored a hat-trick for East Kilbride, with Ryan Lockie netting a double and Callum Tapping adding another, with striker Nicky Reid getting one back for Gala.

That was Rovers’ fifth defeat on the bounce against the South Lanarkshire side – having lost at home by 5-4 in December and 5-2 last February and away by 4-0 last August, 3-1 in March 2022 and 3-0 in October 2020, last taking a point off them with a 2-2 draw on the road in February 2020.

Reid has since left Gala to join East of Scotland Football League premier division side Musselburgh Athletic.

He signed for Rovers in July, having been with their fifth-tier rivals Tranent prior to that.

The 21-year-old’s other previous clubs were FC Edinburgh, fellow capital side Spartans, last season’s Lowland League champions, and Midlothian’s Penicuik Athletic.

A spokesperson for Rovers said: “We wish Nicky all the best and thank him for his time at Netherdale.”

Reid went straight into Athletic’s match-day squad to play Sauchie at home at Olivebank on Saturday gone, but that fixture, like Gala’s planned visit from Bo’ness United and the rest of the two leagues’ fixture cards, was called off due to their pitch being frozen.