Berwick Rangers host Cupar Hearts in Scottish Cup this weekend
Celtic B had beaten Slovan Bratislava 4-0 in the UEFA Youth League ahead of their Lowland League meeting with Berwick Rangers last weekend, so the point that Thomas Scobbie’s side earned from a shut-out was all the more impressive.
And had an Arran Laidlaw effort not been cleared off the line in the first half at Airdrie, they might just have taken all three.
The young striker held off a challenge and shot past Celtic keeper Marcus Gill but Mitchel Frame got back to prevent it going into the net and maintained the hosts’ unbeaten start to the campaign.
While the game will have given his players a confidence boost as they get their season back on track, the focus now shifts to the Scottish Cup as the black and gold host Cupar Heats at MKM Shielfield in the first round on Saturday.
Hearts, of the Kingdom of Kingdom of Fife Premier League, have plenty of experience in getting to Hampden and have lifted the Scottish Amateur Cup at the national stadium in successive seasons.
They beat Steins Thistle 2-1 to lift the trophy in 2022/23 and Gallowhill Thistle 3-1 in 2023/24 to make it back-to-back successes.
Cupar will want to make in impression in the Scottish Cup itself and boss Scobbie is not taking the potential banana-skin that the tie has thrown up lightly, having had his scouts cast an eye over them ahead of the game.
“We know the game against Cupar is going to be another tricky fixture,” he said.
“We have had them watched a couple times so we will have a game plan on how to approach and get the best out of our players and look for the win.”
“It’s going to be a different game to the one we played against Celtic B - it’s at home, we will be expected to win but I think as long as we approach it with the same mentality and attitude like we did against Celtic B then we will have a great chance of progressing into the next round.”
Berwick are in tenth spot in the Lowland League and the clean sheet came against a side who have netted 24 times in nine games to sit second in the table.
“The performance was excellent from the players,” said Scobbie after last week’s draw against the Glasgow giant’s top academy side.
“We know the quality Celtic B have and how they try and break teams down but the lads really stuck to the set up and game plan and on another day we could have scored a couple goals.”