It’s a busy weekend shaping up as The Ants go back into action. The Under 20s get the weekend underway with a friendly match away to Cumbernauld Colts at Broadwood. A wee break from league action with us being the spare team this week sees us facing up against Lowland Dev League opposition in which should be a good test for the Young Team.

Moving on to Saturday morning when our Amateur side Halfway St. Anthony’s are in league action as they face Motherwell Albion away at Calderhead High School. It’s not been the best of starts for the Ammies but hopefully a new influx of players will see us kick on and start getting points on the board.

The afternoon is the Men’s First Team travelling to face Lanark United in the WoSFL Second Division. Moor Park is always a hard place to go and Lanark are 10 points ahead of us in the table and currently sit 3rd but we have every confidence that we can build on a win last time out in the league at home to Bellshill and get a positive result.

Our 2009’s are also now Saturday afternoon’s and they welcome Dumbarton FC 2009’s to Mossedge in the PJDYFL Division One league match where we can close to within 1 point of the 3rd placed Sons with a win.

On Sunday we are taking part in 3 matches. First up is the Ants Ladies SWFL West league match away to Dumbarton. The Ladies have been flying this season so far and will be looking for another 3 points to keep us in touch with the group at the top of the table.

Our Over 50’s mens SuperVets side are defending their league title at Toryglen later in the afternoon and are sitting top of the table going into the last batch of group matches.

The Ants legends are also in action, taking part in the Chic Hagan Memorial match against a Graham Haig select at Holm Park in Yoker with Ants Legend James McKenna and former Ants player Kieron “Cheeser” Maxwell managing the side.

Here’s hoping it’s a good weekend!

The Ants take on Lowland League leaders East Kilbride FC at McKenna Park today in the 2nd round of the SoccerShop Challenge Cup. The Ants have added to their squad this week with the signings of Scott Perry (GK), Declyn Healy (DF), Warin Omar (MF) and Cameron MacNair (MF) who are all in contention for todays match. The Ants will be looking to bounce back from last weeks 2-1 away defeat at the hands of Lanark and will need a much better overall performance to get anything out of the match, East Kilbride for their part currently sit top of the Lowland League a point clear of East Stirlingshire, and have yet to taste defeat so far this season.

Speaking to the Ants Website manager Danny Taylor said “The boys are buzzing all week for the match today and we hope to give a good account of ourselves in what will be a tough match v a top side”

This is the first meeting of the clubs, with EKFC having been in the Lowland League since their inception in 2010 and the Ants having only joined the Pyramid set up this season.

A tough match of that there is no question with the Ants massive underdogs going into this one, but hopefully we can pull off an upset and find ourselves in the hat for the third round.

Kick off for this one is 1:30pm with live updates on Twitter (@SaintAnthonysFC), with extra time and penalties if needed. Sadly due to the COVID pandemic spectators are not permitted. We will however make highlights available on our Youtube channel.

Want to help the club? Why not use Donate a Ticket to buy a virtual ticket for todays game to help keep us afloat during these uncertain times.

#itsacupdayantsthing #forzaants #montheants

 

The Ants are on the march as Danny Taylor’s men travel to face Drumchapel United in the Ants first ever league match as a West of Scotland Football League club, with Drumchapel having taken their debut bow in the league the week before, going down 4-0 to Kilsyth Rangers at Duncansfield in their opening fixture. The Ants for their part drew 3-3 with Irvine Victoria in the SoccerShop Challenge Cup, winning 5-3 on penalties in the new management teams first competitive fixture in charge.

The Ants have never faced Drumchapel before as both teams played at different grades, with The Ants being a Junior team and Drumchapel United being an amateur side before both became founding members of the West of Scotland Football league this season, so its a trip into the unknown for both sides. Drumchapel will be looking to put last weeks defeat behind them, and get their home league campaign off to a flier, whereas the Ants will be looking to build on a good performance in the match at Irvine, and will want to get their own league campaign off to the best possible start.

Drumchapel have been busy building a squad for this season with their marquee signing Darian McKinnon the standout signing, having played in the SPFL with Hamilton and latterly Partick Thistle, as well as captain Willie Dyer who had spells at St Johnstone, Morton and Dundee. In preseason they had big wins over Scoutable United (5-1), Arthurlie (7-1) and East Kilbride Thistle (4-1) as well as wins over Benburb (0-1) and Rossvale (3-4). They drew 1-1 with Maryhill and 4-4 with Kilwinning and suffered defeats to Rob Roy (5-1), Johnstone Burgh (1-3) and Darvel (2-0). Theres also a familiar face in the backroom staff with former Ants keeper Jon Connolly on the books as the goalkeeping coach.

The Ants have added a trio of new faces to the squad this week with Jay Burns joining from Forth Wanderers after they withdrew from playing this season, Drew Boult who previously played with Vale of Clyde as well as a spell in Germany with TSV Amicitia Viernheim, and Declan Walsh who has signed on loan from Saltcoats Victoria until Dec 2020 following their withdrawl from the league.

Ants Manager Danny Taylor is looking forward to getting league business finally started after the cup game last week whetted the appetite for competitive football, Speaking to the web team he said “The boys were magic last week in the cup, I was delighted with their attitude, showing great battling qualities which we will need to produce tomorrow again. Although the Ants haven’t played them before, I am well aware of the threat they can pose having faced them in the Amateur game. I am buzzing to finally get the league campaign started and fully expect a tough match, but having said that, theres no easy games in our conference”

#cmontheants #forzaants #itsanewleagueseasonantsthing

It’s finally time for the season to get underway, and the Ants are on cup duty to kick off their campaign with a trip to visit Irvine Victoria at Victoria Park. Due to the Coronavirus restrictions sadly fans are not allowed to attend the match, and along with the other restrictions will give this season opener an unfamiliar feel but both teams have had a taste of these restrictions with training and friendly matches having been subject to the same restrictions and protocols.

Pre season for both teams has been a long drawn out process, and both teams will be itching to get competitive football underway after a number of friendlies which saw both teams take a couple of defeats, although Vics won their last match v Ayr United 5-0, and the Ants came from behind to draw with Glasgow Perthshire 1-1 in our new management teams first game in charge.

The Ants will be hoping the new look squad, including latest recruits Zander Tran and Njablo Ndlovu, that they have brought in over the summer will get the season off to a flier, with a tie at home against Lowland League side East Kilbride awaiting the victors in the 2nd round in November.

It’s time for the real stuff to start now and we can’t wait!. Kick off at Victoria Park tomorrow is 1:30pm and if after 90 minutes the scores are level, then extra time will be played. If the extra half hour can’t settle it, then it would go to penalties.

Here’s hoping come full time it’s the Ants name in the hat!

The Ants face Irvine Victoria in their first match since moving over to the “Senior” ranks as the teams come head to head in the SoccerShop Challenge Cup, with the winners facing off against Lowland League side East Kilbride FC in the second round. We took a look back over the years to see how the teams have fared against each other. Despite the old Central Region and Ayrshire Region of the Juniors merging to form the West Region SJFA in 2002/03 the clubs have never faced each other on league business, but have faced each other eight times over the years in cup competitions.

The first meeting of the sides was in the Scottish Junior Cup in the second round in 1952-53 where it was Irvine Vics who advanced to the next round with a 4-0 at Victoria Park. It would be 21 years until the next encounter when they were paired in the West of Scotland Cup first round, once again at Victoria Park, with the Vics coming out on top, this time with a 5-3 win in what appears to have been a pulsating cup match. In 1976/77 the sides met in the West of Scotland Cup once again at Victoria Park, this time the contest was not as close as previous encounters with the Vics strolling to a 6-1 win in the third round tie.

Four years later in the 1980/81 Scottish Junior Cup third round, the Ants, this time with home advantage, recorded our first win over their Ayrshire counterparts with a resounding 6-0 victory of our own, then in 1992/93 broke our Victoria Park hoodoo with a 1-0 win in the first round of the West of Scotland Cup. We met again in the first round of the West of Scotland Cup in 1995/96 at Victoria Park, with the Ants missing some key players and fielding a goalkeeper upfront, and unsurprisingly it was the Vics who emerged victorious, this time running out 5-1 winners.

The last competitive meeting of the sides saw the Ants come out victorious in the Second round of the Scottish Junior Cup after a replay. The first game was a 1-1 draw at McKenna Park, A Gareth Timoney own goal giving the Ants the lead before Gary Madden netted the Vics equaliser. The replay wasn’t as close though and the Ants ran out 4-1 winners at Victoria Park, goals from Abou Mansare, Graham Jaap and Michael Williams gave the Ants a 3-0 lead, Gary Madden netted again to reduce the deficit but Joe Mulheron put the icing on the cake for the Ants in the last minute to make it 4-1 as seen on the highlights video below.

STATS

Games Played – 8

Irvine Vics Wins – 4

Ants Wins – 3

Draws – 1

Goals Scored  Irvine – 22 | Ants – 17

Highest Win – Ants 6 v 0 (1980/81 Scottish Junior Cup)

It’s been a long old season, with the new 16 team league set up, new grounds to visit and new friends to make! The club has made great progress off the park and have taken the Ants fans and committee through the usual rollercoaster that supporting the Ants brings on the park, The opening five league games without a single point, four of them by a single goal margin, A six game winning run which saw us dream of promotion, some great goals, some head in hands moments, it really has been quite the ride and there is one game left to play.

We travel to Newmains on Wednesday night looking to break the 40 point barrier in the league and finish the season with a win, whereas Newmains will be looking to finish the season 3rd from bottom and as they are level on points and goal difference with Saltcoats, any points they can take in their last two games could see them do just that.

The last meeting between the sides saw the Ants edge out Newmains 2-1 at McKenna Park back in November, with Mark McIlvaney opening the scoring just before half time. Newmains equalised through Cameron Browning ten minutes after the start of the second half but the Ants took all 3 points when Shaun Gallacher fired home after 77 minutes to give the Ants the points.

Previous Meetings –

2017/18

Ants 7 v 1 Newmains

Newmains 0 v 3 Ants

2016/17

Newmains 2 v 2 Ants 
Ants 1 v 2 Newmains

2010/11

Kick off is at 7pm On Wednesday 1st May at Victoria Park.

The Ants have been invited to the prestigious  D & K Lafferty Cup 2018 hosted by Oban Saints. The tournament will see the new look Ants pit themselves against 4 other sides in the opening pre-season action of the season. The tournament format is 2 x 20 minute halves, with two matches on at the same time. The tournament schedule is below –

11am – Pitch 1 – Dundee United v Hamilton Academical | Pitch 2 – St. Johnstone v Oban Saints

12pm – Pitch 2 – Oban Saints v St. Anthony’s | Pitch 2 – Hamilton Academical v St. Johnstone

1pm – Pitch 1 – St. Anthony’s V St. Johnstone | Pitch 2 – Dundee United v Oban Saints

2pm – Pitch 1 – St. Johnstone v Dundee United | Pitch 2 – St. Anthony’s V Hamilton Academical

3pm – Pitch 1 – Hamilton Academical v Oban Saints | Pitch 2 – Dundee United v St. Anthony’s

It promises to be a great day and a feast of football so why not come along and see the new look Ants take on some top class opposition

 

The Ants make the short trip to Fullerton Park in Tollcross today to face recently relegated Vale of Clyde in what promises to be a tough match. The Vale are under new management with James Skinner the man in charge and they drew 1-1 with early league leaders Carluke at the John Cumming Stadium last Saturday and find themselves 6th in the league having won two (Bellshill 3-5, Johnstone Burgh 5-3), drew one (Carluke 1-1) and lost one (Lanark 0-2) while the Ants have won 3 (Newmains 7-1, Ashfield 1-2, Dunipace 2-0) and lost one (Vale of Leven 4-2).

It should be a good old fashioned junior match on the tight pitch at Fullerton but hopefully come 1/4 to 4 we can be celebrating another three points.

McBookie Odds –

Vale of Clyde – 7/10

Draw – 4/1

Ants – 2/1

The Ants face Dunipace at McKenna Park today hoping for a change of fortune against the Denny men who took four points from six against the Ants last season.

The Ants will no doubt be looking to build on last weeks win over Ashfield at Saracen Park where Anton Conways last minute goal saw them run out 2-1 winners, whilst the Pace will be looking to notch their first league points of the season following 3 defeats in their first 3 matches, last week slipping to a close 3-2 defeat to league leaders Carluke.

It should be an interesting match and we hope you can join us at McKenna Park. Kick Off 2pm
 

The Ants home league campaign gets under way at 2pm today with Newmains United the visitors to McKenna Park for the first league match there since April. Both teams will be looking to get their first points of the season on the board following the Ants 4-2 defeat away to Vale of Leven and Newmains 5-1 defeat at home to Carluke.

Newmains will be buoyed by the fact they took 4 points out of a possible 6 last season v The Ants, which could have been 6 out of 6 if the Ants hadn’t clawed back a 2-0 deficit at Victoria Park in the second game of last season to draw 2-2, and Newmains scored two goals in the last 5 minutes of the return match at McKenna Park to run out 2-1 winners.

League Sponsor McBookie are offering the following odds –

Ants – 4/9

Draw – 9/2

Newmains – 3/1

Clicking on the link should take you straight to the Ants match market.

It promises to be a good hard fought match and hopefully the Ants have enough in the locker to be celebrating come quarter to four.

CMON THE ANTS!