Updated with league cup draw: Berwick Rangers end pre-season warm-ups undefeated
Berwick Rangers are now set to kick off their inaugural Scottish Lowland Football League East campaign with their first game ever against Dundee’s Lochee United after concluding their pre-season warm-ups with a goalless draw at home to Newcastle Benfield at the weekend.
That was the first time they’ve drawn a blank over the course of five summer friendlies and manager Kevin Haynes is happy to have seen his side go unbeaten, scoring 13 goals and conceding just two, as they wrap up their preparations for the upcoming fifth-tier season.
Rangers’ four prior July friendlies, all at home at Shielfield Park too, yielded three wins – by 4-1 against a Falkirk XI on Tuesday the 7th, 5-0 versus Ashington on Saturday the 11th and 3-0 facing Stobswood Welfare on Tuesday the 14th – and one 1-1 draw, playing Blyth Spartans on Saturday the 4th.
Reviewing those five fixtures, Haynes, 45, said: “Five games played, two goals conceded, unbeaten – that’s a real positive, although pre-season can count for nothing.
“That doesn’t give any indication of how we’re going to do across the course of the season but it gives us a platform to build on.
“When your opposition score zero goals, you’ve got a chance in every single game, so it’s been a very worthwhile exercise over the course of pre-season.
“There have definitely been positive signs over the course of this pre-season.
“Results are not the main priority at the minute. It’s more about working on the structure of the team and certain aspects of our game – how we defend and how we attack.
“It’s been relatively pleasing. The real positive is the 13 goals in five games. It’s a positive sign that we have the ability to score goals. There’s only been one game that we’ve failed to score in over the course of the five, so that's extremely positive, and at the other side of the pitch, conceding two goals in the five games is also good.
“If it had been the first five games of the season, you’d take those stats all day long, and that’s something for us to build on.”
Berwick also have another Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup campaign to look forward to and they now know who they’ll be up against during its six-match league phase – two teams apiece from William Hill Leagues One and Two and two top-flight B teams.
Five of those KDM Evolution Trophy fixtures are Tuesday 7.45pm kick-offs, the only exception being a trip to third-tier Airdrieonians on Saturday, September 26, and that’s a 3pm start.
Their other games are at home to Hearts B on August 11, Hibernian B on September 8, Stranraer on September 22 and Queen of the South on October 13 and away to Annan Athletic on August 25.
Berwick are one of ten fifth-tier guest clubs among a field of 40 contesting the trophy’s league phase, along with all 20 teams in Scotland’s third and fourth tiers and ten top-tier development squads.
The top 22 of them will go on to the cup’s knockout phases, joining all ten William Hill Championship clubs for a round of 32 at the start of November, with payouts of at least £30,000 on offer for those still standing after the first half-dozen match-days.
A round of 16 follows at the end of November, quarter-finals in January, semis in February and 2027’s final in either March or April.
This season’s Scottish Lowland Football League first-round draw was made this week and it hands Rangers a tie at home to former league rivals Cumbernauld Colts to be played on Saturday, November 21.