Tynecastle turn focus to King and League Cup success

Tynie were right in the mix alongside champions Leith Athletic, Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale and Heriot-Watt University prior to the end of last year, but recent defeats to the aforementioned teams have now pitched the Saughton-based club out of contention in fourth spot.

Vinter’s men host Stirling University in the quarter-final of the King Cup tomorrow desperate to secure their place in the last four. Tynecastle welcome Eyemouth United to Saughton in the first round of the League Cup next month.

“The two trophies we’re left in we want to win,” Vinter explained. “We’re not thick enough to know that it’s going to take a minor miracle to get us back in the title race so our focus has got to be on finishing as high up the table as we can and, hopefully, having success in both cups. It’s been a difficult start to the year as we’ve struggled to find any sort of momentum both in our performance levels and the consistency in games.

“It’s been hard as we’ve only played six matches so far this year because of the weather. Our pitch is a real issue at the moment so it’s near enough impossible to get the ball down on the ground and pass it which we like to do.”

Tynie warmed up for tomorrow’s encounter with a 4-0 win over bottom club Burntisland Shipyard on Wednesday night and Vinter said: “Any sort of win on Wednesday was good because of the surface. We never played anywhere near the level we can but Burntisland were well organised and I was impressed with them. We were delighted to score four goals and keep a clean sheet so we’ve put it to bed and are ready for tomorrow.”

Elsewhere this weekend, Leith host East Lothian outfit Ormiston at Meadowbank 3G and Heriot-Watt take on Eyemouth at Riccarton, both fixtures King Cup first-round ties.