Gala Fairydean Rovers sign up midfielders at the double from Edinburgh City ahead of cup tie

Their latest recruits, following ex-Stranraer striker Muhammad Adam and returning defender Gareth Rodger through the door at Netherdale this month are midfielders Jake Rennie and Struan Mair, both previously at William Hill League Two side Edinburgh City.

Fifer Rennie, 20, had been at the capital side since July last year, joining them from Dunfermline Athletic.

Mair, 19, had been on City’s seniors’ books since December 2023 after graduating from their youth teams.

All four new boys were in the starting XI fielded by manager Martin Scott for Rovers’ 2-1 defeat at home to Caledonian Braves on Saturday.

Jamie Semple put the hosts, captained by Keaghan Jacobs, in front just ahead of the hour mark but their visitors from North Lanarkshire hit back past home goalkeeper Zach Balfour via Ross McNeil on 66 minutes from the penalty spot and 75 to take all three points home with them.

Making up the rest of Fairydean’s starting line-up were Che Reilly, Logan Sinclair, Ciaran Greene and Liam Watt, with Danny Galbraith, Jay Cantley, Liam Hoggan, Ethan Dougal, Joe Wylie, Kieran Dolan and Calan Ledingham on the bench.

That defeat, following on from a 6-0 thumping in the reverse fixture in July at Strathclyde Country Park, was their fifth on the bounce against manager Ricky Waddell’s second-placed Motherwell side and extended their winless run against them to seven games.

It leaves Rovers third from bottom of the table, on 18 points from 24 fixtures, with another ten left to play and 30 points up for grabs.

That’s one point better off than second-bottom Cumbernauld Colts and two more than basement side Broomhill, though Broomhill have three games in hand on their fellow bottom-three teams.

Next up for Fairydean – the Borders’ last men standing in the fifth-tier league following exits for Hawick Royal Albert in 2018, Selkirk in 2019 and Vale of Leithen in 2022 – is a trip to Cowdenbeath, another of Rennie’s former clubs, this coming Saturday for a Scottish Lowland Football League Cup tie kicking off at 3pm.

They go into that away-day hoping to end a four-match winless run against manager Dougie Hill’s Fifers – currently 13th in the standings, on 24 points from 22 fixtures – dating back to March 2023 and culminating in a 4-1 league defeat at home last August.