Dundee look to shake off ring rust

Dundee HSFP and Aberdeen Grammar meet at Mayfield this afternoon in the RBS Caledonia Regional Cup with both keen to hit the ground running in 2012.

The two sides, who are in Group A alongside Kirkcaldy and Morgan Academy, see the match as very important as their season gets under way again.

They will want to win it to give themselves a good chance of progressing in the event and it will be a decent warm-up for the two RBS Premier A outfits before they start a run of tough league fixtures in seven days time.

Dundee HSFP have not played a competitive fixture for nine weeks. However, a few of their players got a run-out on 27 December for the Co-optimists against Edinburgh Accies and some have been training with the Scotland under-20 squad, while nearly 100 supporters will be having a lunch before the match showing that they are excited ahead of the coming months.

Dundee HSFP head coach Ian Rankin said: “It will be a very fit, but undoubtedly rusty squad who welcome Aberdeen to Mayfield. We were very lucky to pip Aberdeen right at the start of the season in the league and look forward to retaining the bragging rights in what promises to be a no-holds-barred local cup tie.”

Aberdeen Grammar head coach Alex Duncan has named a strong squad for the match, which starts at 2pm, as does Morgan against Kirkcaldy and the Group B contest between Perthshire and Howe of Fife.

In the RBS West Regional Cup, the quarter-final match-up between Whitecraigs and Hamilton looks set to be a good one.

When the sides met back in October, Hamilton toughed out a 24-16 win, with the victory helping them to grab an RBS Premier B spot, but Whitecraigs will back themselves at home.

In the other quarter-final today, Dalziel play Dumfries while, in a rearranged tie, Cartha Queens Park play Hillhead/Jordanhil to see who will face Glasgow Hawks in the last eight in a fortnight. Matches start at 1.30pm. In the RBS Edinburgh Regional Cup, Currie know a win over Lasswade at Malleny Park (3pm) would see them progress from Pool 1. Melrose host Peebles in the RBS Border Regional Cup (2pm) looking to regain form after festive losses to Gala and Selkirk, but will be without a number of injured players.