Rose chase fourth Scottish Cup glory
LINLITHGOW Rose boss David Baikie is under no illusions how tough it's going be to add another Scottish Cup to the Prestonfield trophy cabinet as his side prepare for the junior game's flagship match.
The West Lothian club is heading to Kilmarnock's Rugby Park on Sunday to take on Largs Thistle hoping to lift the cup for the fourth time in its proud history.
It's Rose's sixth Junior Scottish Cup final after winning it in 1965, 2002 and 2007, and is their fourth in eight years as Auchinleck Talbot edged a nervy 1-0 encounter in 2003.
Largs are also previous winners of the prestigious cup and despite Rose's own successful cup record, Baikie reckons it'll all mean nothing on the day as Largs are carving out a new "pedigree".
"We've had Largs watched a few times and had some reports on them," said Baikie.
"They have had a tremendous cup run beating last season's East Super League champions Bonnyrigg, West champions Irvine Meadow and last season's finalists Clydebank so they've got a good pedigree themselves."
It's turned out to be a whirlwind season for Baikie's Rose side as expectations were lowered following his appointment as he perceived the club would have to go through a "transition period" before enjoying any real success.
It's still mathematically possible – although not expected - for Linlithgow to catch bitter rivals Bo'ness for top spot in the East Region Super League.
This leaves them chasing the two top trophies going and a spot in the senior Scottish Cup preliminary rounds next year. Not bad for a club in transition.
Baikie added: "It would obviously be a great achievement to win the cup just nine months into the job.
"To do that in the first season would be good as I've been on record as saying that this season was a transition period for us, but it'll be tough.
"Preparations have been good so far and we had a good win last Saturday against Newtongrange. We trained on Monday and Wednesday and will train on Saturday again and everything's going well.
"We have a pool of 22 players but Keith Hogg is long-term injured and Chris King is cup-tied from his time at Musselburgh.
"John Adam will also probably be missing as he has a disciplinary hearing on Thursday which will likely mean he'll be suspended so we'll have 19 to choose from."
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Weather for Bathgate
Monday 21 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 6 C to 15 C
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Temperature: 9 C to 19 C
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