Carnie eyes League Cup glory for Whitehill Welfare

Whitehill have not lifted any trophy since they won the Image Printers East of Scotland Qualifying Cup in season 2008-2009 and that is a statistic that Carnie wants to rectify.

“Kevin Twaddle, my assistant, and me are well aware that Whitehill have not won silverware for a few years,” said Carnie. “We are desperate to bring the trophy back to Rosewell for the benefit of everybody connected with the club.”

Whitehill were beaten 3-2 by Selkirk at the weekend although Carnie explained: “For one reason or another we were missing several players for a game which had no bearing on league positions as we were already guaranteed third position and Selkirk had been relegated.

“Against City, we will be completely different although Wayne McIntosh is suspended, Gareth Thom is out injured and we will give a late fitness test to John Hall. We are facing a City team managed by my friend Gary Jardine and they had a tremendous result last week when they beat Stirling University 2-1 away from home.”

City have already beaten Whitehill earlier this season in the final of the Image Printers Cup with a 3-2 scoreline and Carnie does not want a repeat of that result, preferring to focus on their Premier Division game which saw them beat City 5-0. “We want to bring the cup back to Ferguson Park while I know that Gary and City will be wanting to win as well,” added Carnie.

Meanwhile, City’s co-manager Jardine said: “We have the opportunity to create history and become the first Edinburgh City side to win two trophies in one season although, obviously, Whitehill Welfare will be massive favourites tonight.

“They beat us 5-0 in our league meeting which was a wee lesson for us. We certainly cannot afford to have an off-day.

“We will be stronger than we were in that particular game and John Green [co-manager] and me will have some tough selection problems as we have a full squad to choose from. If we had had as many players as this throughout the season we would have been up there challenging for the Premier Division title.

“The excellent pitch at St Mark’s will suit our style of getting the ball down and passing it.

“Grant [Whitehill manager] and me go back to our schooldays and neither of us like getting beat so we are both looking forward to a cracking game.”

Elsewhere tonight, Leith Athletic host Stirling University in the semi-final of the King Cup at Marine Drive, kick-off 7.00pm.