Stevie Crawford will be ‘helping out’ at Edinburgh City for a few weeks, says boss Gary Naysmith

He said: “Stevie is someone who I have known for years.

“He has great experience as a player, was a coach at Falkirk, assistant manager at Hearts and then manager at Dunfermline so I just felt it’s important to have someone next to you for the Premier Sports Cup games.

“We’ll see where we are in a couple of weeks, but he’s here in the short term to help me out.

“I was grateful for his help on Friday against Hamilton because he passed on some good information and spoke to the players well."

Naysmith is in buoyant mood ahead of tonight's Premier Sports Cup Group E trip to Ayr United.

Despite the 1-0 defeat by Hamilton Accies on Friday night – Callum Smith with a 25th-minute winner for the Championship club – the City boss insists he saw enough from his side's encouraging display to suggest they will pose a real threat at Somerset Park for David Hopkin’s men.

“I thought my players were excellent in the second half the other night,” Naysmith said. “We had a good shape about us, pressed at the right times, carried a threat and created a couple of half-chances, one really good opportunity, and I think we probably deserved a draw.

“I don’t want to lose a game, but if you are ever going to then that is the way to do it."

City are bottom of Group E, which also includes Falkirk and Albion Rovers.

They meet tonight in Paul Sheerin’s first match in charge of the Bairns.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.If you haven't already, please consider supporting our sports coverage with a digital sports subscription.