Match Preview: Edinburgh City v Berwick Rangers – Betfred Cup
The ‘Gers travel to Edinburgh this evening for their first away game of the 2017/18 season and the next challenge in this year’s Betfred Cup.
Fresh from Saturday’s home defeat at the hands of Greenock Morton, Berwick will travel to Ainslie Park to take on The Citizens in an all League 2 encounter.
The ‘Gers will wear Black and Gold tonight with the home side in white.
The game kicks off at 7.45pm and tickets are priced at £12 for adults and £6 for concessions, as it will be for all Group F games due to an agreed price fix.
Berwick fans will have recent found memories of the opposition as it was a 3-2 home victory at the end of last season that confirmed The ‘Gers League 2 status for the forthcoming campaign.
Infact, there will be a growing familiarity between the two sides as only 3 points separated both at the end of the recent season, in 7th and 8th position respectively. Since City were promoted to the League in 2016 they have enjoyed some key battles with Berwick Rangers. Last season delivered wins for both and a combined aggregate score of 8-8 from the four clashes.
Therefore this game promises goals and will set the tone for the 5 meetings that the clubs are set to have in 2017/18.
Gary Jardine, much like John Coughlin, has been busy in the transfer market in the close season with former Hearts player Chris Thomson added. The Edinburgh side have also added two former ‘Gers, with Sean Mackie joining from Hibs on a development loan and winger David Verlaque, who netted the winner in the aformentioned 3-2 victory, signing a deal yesterday.
The Citizens alsol boast some familiar faces as 7 times capped Scottish International, Craig Beattie, has retained his place in the squad and as part of the coaching staff. Off the park, the experienced Jim Jeffries is working as the clubs Sporting Director.
Berwick welcome back Steven Notman, Michael McKenna and Kevin McKinlay, all of who served one-match bans carried over from last season’s competition.
This will be the first game of the season for Edinburgh as they were the team to miss a game in the first round of Group F fixtures at the weekend. They will therefore be keen to show their fans how the summer preparation has gone.
The other group game at the weekend finished Queen’s Park 1 v 5 Motherwell, so it’s an early advantage to Morton and Motherwell in the Group F standings.
We hope to see as many of our travelling support in Edinburgh as possible and that you all enjoy the game.
