Tynecastle expecting a much sterner test

Tynecastle boss Steven Vinter says tomorrow's opponents Burntisland Shipyard are a much better outfit than their record this season suggests.

The Fifers are languishing third bottom of the East of Scotland League having won just four matches this term, their latest victory coming six days ago when they easily dismantled Craigroyston 5-1 at Recreation Park.

And, despite Vinter’s men having tasted success twice already this season against Burntisland, the Tynie head coach is expecting a much stiffer test this time round.

“The thing about Burntisland is we played them in the League Cup section and we beat them 7-1 away from home and then we played them in the league and beat them 5-1,” he said.

“I don’t for one second believe we’ll have a similar scoreline against them tomorrow. They’ve signed well since October and they are a much stronger side. We’ll need to be at our best to get anything from the match.”

Tynecastle leapt up to third in the table on Wednesday night after a battling 3-2 win over Heriot-Watt University at Riccarton.

“It was a real positive performance,” Vinter explained. “I felt that we more than deserved the three points but we just made it that wee bit difficult for ourselves.

“It was good to bounce back from a right poor result last weekend against Ormiston, we didn’t play well at all so it was pleasing we responded in the right manner.

“I’ve watched Heriot-Watt a couple of times this season and I’ve always been impressed with them. Ian [Little] has them playing the right way with some right good individuals so it’s great the win has taken us up to third. We’ll take each game as it comes and hopefully pick up enough points that allows us to finish third, who knows maybe second.”

Elsewhere this weekend, Civil Service Strollers host Heriot-Watt University, Craigroyston welcome Stirling University and Ormiston travel to Ferguson Park to take on Lowland League side Whitehill Welfare in the third round of the South East Region Cup.

Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale, meanwhile, will look to exact revenge for their defeat by Spartans last weekend when the Ainslie Park side travel to Saughton Enclosure in the second round of the King Cup.

On Sunday, league leaders Leith Athletic put their title-chasing campaign on hold as they go head to head with Eyemouth United in the final of the Alex Jack Cup in Coldstream.