Edinburgh City: Playing at Hampden will suit Citizens, says Chris Kane

Chris Kane (inset) is looking forward to playing for Edinburgh City at Hampden

Chris Kane reckons playing at Hampden this weekend will suit Edinburgh City perfectly.

The title-chasing Capital outfit head to the national stadium to face Queen’s Park as they bid to keep the heat on League Two leaders Cove Rangers, who are currently five points clear at the summit.

This weekend’s fixture carries additional excitement for Kane because it as at the historic home of Scottish football. The defender believes the big pitch will benefit his team, who defeated Annan Athletic 4-3 in the Scottish Cup last Saturday.

“Playing at Hampden is enjoyable,” he said. “I think the surface and size of pitch will suit us because we’ve got good ball-playing midfielders and a number of powerful attackers. If we stay sharp and defend well, I can see us getting a good result.”

Kane is unfazed by the fact Cove have a five-point lead a third of the way into the season. “There’s a long way to go yet,” he said. “We are focusing on ourselves, going out to win every game and putting the pressure on whoever is above us – that’s Cove just now so it’s up to them to keep winning. We’ve still to play them a few times so we are looking forward to that.”

Kane, a former Hearts youngster, has been a regular for City since joining from East Fife in the summer. “I’m enjoying it at City,” said the 26-year-old, who has recently completed a Masters in chemical engineering. “When I joined in the summer it was clear right away that the club’s plan was to climb up the leagues. The set-up is really professional, everyone works hard and is pulling in the same direction. There are a lot of players who have a good grounding in full-time football, have experience in the leagues and know what it takes to win games. If we continue working hard, I think we can achieve promotion.

“I came to Edinburgh City to fight to get myself into a team that’s looking to win promotions and use the experience I have of playing in the Scottish leagues.”

The move to City reunited Kane with several familiar faces.

Among others, he used to play Edinburgh derbies for Hearts youth teams against Danny Handling and Alex Harris, who were coming through the ranks at Hibs at the same time.

“I’ve played with and against a number of the boys in the team,” he said.

“I was with Conrad Balatoni and Thommo (Craig Thomson) at Hearts, Allan Smith and Blair Henderson at Dunfermline and Jonny Court at East Fife.

"I also had the pleasure of kicking Boozy (Harris) and Danny around in youth team derbies!”