Gala Fairydean Rovers up for cup versus old acquaintances Kelty Hearts

Then Gala Fairydean Rovers captain Danny Galbraith on the ball against Kelty Hearts in November 2020 (Photo: Bill McBurnie)

Kelty Hearts have moved up two divisions to the Scottish Professional Football League’s third tier since they last came up against Gala Fairydean Rovers but the Borderers aren’t at all worried about renewing old acquaintances, according to midfielder Danny Galbraith.

The Galashiels team face the Fifers, currently managed by John Potter and sitting seventh in League 1, in an East of Scotland Cup semi-final this coming Saturday. That’s at New Central Park in Kelty, with kick-off at 2pm.

The last time the two sides played there, in September 2019, saw the hosts run out 3-0 winners and the reverse fixture at Netherdale in January 2020 also went their way, by 2-1, their last meeting, at Netherdale in November 2020, also being a 2-1 win for Kelty.

That history and the teams’ differing fortunes since might make this weekend’s cup tie look like a daunting one for Rovers, beaten East of Scotland Qualifying Cup finalists against Linlithgow Rose in Penicuik in May, but Galbraith, 32, is looking forward to it.

“It’ll be good, in particular because we played Kelty a few times relatively recently before they got promoted,” he said.

“I think a lot of the players from then are still there, so it’ll be interesting. They’ve gone up a couple of levels so they’ll be stronger than they were previously, but it will be a good test for us. We’ve certainly got nothing to lose.

“It’s a break from the league and it’s always nice to play in a different competition.

“When you go up against higher-league opposition, you just want to give a good account of yourselves and hopefully we can do that.”