Paget braced for another tough test

Whitehill WELFARE visit Stirling University in the SFA South Region Challenge Cup, third round tomorrow, buoyed by a steely away victory over Vale of Leithen in the Image Printers East of Scotland Qualifying Cup last weekend.

The Rosewell club had to dig deep to triumph 2-1 in their “hardest game of the season” in Innerleithen and will require similar resilience when they face a Stirling side who dished out their only league defeat of the campaign when they won 2-1 at Ferguson Park in August.

“It was a hard-fought win against Vale last week,” said Whitehill boss Rab Paget. “It was the first time this season that the opposition had more of the ball than us and that includes our defeats from Stirling University and Bo’ness United in the Scottish Cup. It was definitely our hardest game of the season and now we approach another big game against Stirling. There is no way that my players and me are treating this as a game in which we are looking for revenge – we are just going to Stirling trying to win a game of football. We know that Stirling are a very capable side and will be difficult to beat on their own ground. I cannot imagine more than one goal separating the two teams.

Strikers Wayne McIntosh (14) and Aaron Somerville (8) have scored 22 goals between them this season. “I believe we will score in every game we play, with players like Wayne and Aaron in our line-up,” added Paget, who is likely to be without injured duo Michael Bruce and Patty Bonthrone. “We have a very strong squad so I might take the opportunity to freshen things up tomorrow.”