We start this post with our new signing Mark Burbidge, who is currently plying his trade on the catwalk more than the pitch ( https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/junior-footballer-follows-david-beckhams-13678088 ) – He still shows as being with Kilbirnie Ladeside in the SJFA West Premiership on Transfermarkt.
3rd July 2019 – New Signing
Regan Lumsden (20, 6ft 2in) has come in from newly-promoted-to-League-1 Edinburgh City. 13 Finishing, heading, 10 Off-the-Ball, 13/12 Acc & Pace and 12 Jumping Reach, he is an upgrade on James Hainey (7 Jumping Reach) – Going to get Mark to pump the balls over to him. Welcome Regan.
4th July – New Signing (Loan – Ross County)
Scott Mackay (17, 5ft 7in) comes in as cover for Mark Burbidge on the right. Pretty solid for his age, I hope he develops in a simlar way to Chris Barras last year, but his Fickle personality may be an issue, so we will be mentoring him to get that changed over time.
6th July – New Signing
Jamie Glagsow (25, 5ft 9in) comes in from Auchinleck Talbot on a free. He has League 2 experience with East Stirlingshire before their relegation to the Lowland League. Solid (My favourite word at the moment) he will play mainly as an IF on the left, allowing Andy Mair to play as a FB (WB A) plus can also play up front as a Pressing Forward if we go 2 up top. Welcome Jamie.
1st Friendly – 6/7/19 v Dundee University
New Look front 3 with Glasgow, Lumsden & Burbidge. Same Central 3 as normal, 16 yo’s Kindlan & Innes step in with Rankin in goal. Really pushing the wide play as we now have the wide players who can cross and a tall striker with good heading/finishing/jumping reach.
FT Civil Service 3 (McVitie 7, Lumsden 20, Burbidge 24) Dundee University 1 (Manson 90) Att 31 (8 Away)
Very positive start to the season, Burbidge especially looks dangerous on the right. We rotated totally in the 2nd half, but Jamie Innes, our 16 yo right-back who played the full 90 got a MotM 🙂
The next day Neil McVitie twisted his ankle in training – he’ll be out for 3-5 weeks, so should hopefully be back for the start of the season proper.
9th July New Signing (Loan – Montrose)
Fraser Burnett (17, 5ft 11in) comes in on loan from Montrose as our backup keeper (Kyle Rankin gets the nod for this season) – He’s not far off Kyle, and playing as a GK on defend he should be fine to step in if needed.
10th July – New Signing
Jake Smith (26, 5ft 9in) comes in as a backup Midfielder on a pay-as-you-play contract. Useful physicals, he will be a backup for Kieran Balfour & David Churchill.
2nd Friendly – 10/7/19 v Cumnock Juniors
Clappers in for the injured McVitie, Churchill for Balfour, triallist Gibb for Innes at right back. Same Control possession style, I’ll be trying something else in the next game.
FT Civil Service 0 Cumnock 2 (Hurst 1, McKenzie 6) Att 25 (2 Away)
An awful start, and we didn’t really recover. I changed to a 4-2-4 Wingplay in the 2nd half but I fear we just get overrun in the midfield. We desperately need some good centre-backs as with no Big Kev or Josh in goal we are so much weaker there.
11th July – New Signing (Loan – Partick Thistle)
Mouhamed Niang (19, 6ft) is a very solid centre-back for his age, and he’ll go straight into the first team. 12 Marking, 13 Tackling, 12 Pace – Not a Kev Waugh but not too bad.
11th July – New Signing
Alan Murdoch (26, 6ft 2in) comes in from Cumnock Juniors, who just beat us in a friendly, like Niang above as a starting centre-back (Or maybe as a back 3 with McConnell…..). 13’s where you want them (Marking, Tackling, Pace, Strength) he will get a lot of games this year.
12th July – New Signing
Lewis Hunter (22, 6ft 2in) completes our triumvirate of Centre Back signings. Coming in from Stirling Uni, another solid defender at the Lowland League level with 25 games for Stirling last year.
So that’s that for the first half of July. Squad Depth below:
Left backs, GK & AMR needed still, with about £100 wages left. Season Preview has us finishing 3rd behind Queen’s Park & East Kilbride, hoping we can just be that little bit more potent up top without losing too much defensively. See you soon.