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Ashfield next up for Ants

Ashfield will be the Ants first footers for 2019 as we play our first match of the new year at McKenna Park this Saturday. Ashfield have been in good form this season currently sitting in 3rd place in the league having amassed 32 points from their 17 games so far. The Ants sit three places below them in 6th but a win for the Govan side would close that gap to just three points.

Both sides will be looking to build on the back of defeats in their last matches with the Ants looking to bounce back from a 2-0 defeat away to league leaders Lanark before the New Year, whereas Ashfield will still be smarting from a 4-0 home defeat to Vale of Clyde last Saturday.

The Ants are bolstered by the return of captain Anton Conway and Shaun Gallacher as well as the signing of Kamil Leszczynski whilst Ashfield have also been busy in the transfer market this week brining in attacking midfielder Aiden McNeil from Premiership side Renfrew and defender Alex Amos from League One leaders Gartcairn.

Ants manager John Kelly is looking forward to the encounter. Speaking to the Ants website earlier he said “We return home to McKenna Park after a week off last week and an away game in our last outing where we lost 2-0 away to Lanark. I actually thought we were very unlucky not to take anything from the game, they basically had 2 real chances and scored with them both which is a hard one to take”. He was happy with the effort levels from the players “Our boys battled hard and more than competed with them but like I said in my pre-match interview they are a good side and their league position shows that”.

Moving on to this weeks match he is under no illusions it will be a tough match and the boys will need to be at their best to take anything from the game “We take on Ashfield this week who themselves have aspirations of at least getting promotion if not challenging for the title itself. Our last outing against them at the very start of the season saw us slip to a 2-1 defeat but as has been the story a good few times this season I felt we deserved something from the game.” He feels the improvement in the team since then could bode well “We have improved since then and added some experience which we lacked on the day so hopefully we can get ourselves a good result on home turf.”

Having added Kamil Leszczynski has been a boost to JK who had the Polish striker targetted as a potential signing for a while “I am a big fan of Kamil, He brings a lot of quality to our attacking options and I am sure the McKenna Park faithful will quickly see why we speak so highly of him”

Last 5 Meetings

Club Statement – Ants Launch eSports team

The club are delighted to announce that they are launching an official Ants eSports team, becoming the first Scottish Junior club to make the step into the emerging e-sports market, and have recruited 20 year old American gamer Tanner Kremer as their first player, as well as appointing him their Head of eSports. Tanner will be in charge of recruiting a roster, as well as entering tournaments under the Saint Anthony’s FC banner.

Hang on, what is eSports?

Basically, is it organised, competitive computer gaming and can be staged in front of a live audience and millions more online.

Forecasters have predicted it will generate more than £1bn in global revenue and almost double its audience to nearly 600 million people by 2020.

“It has the potential to become one of the top five sports in the world,” said Peter Warman of esport analysts Newzoo. (Source BBC website 14th November 2018 – https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/46209628)

Ants head of digital and social media, Martin McKenna explained the decision “We have been aware of the emergence of eSports over the past couple of years, A lot of clubs from all different sports are starting to embrace eSports and as a club who have always been forward thinking when it comes to Digital we decided it would be a great way for us to hopefully continue to grow.” speaking about Tanner, Martin continued “Tanner had originally approached us to do a Q&A on twitch which we did and really enjoyed, the seed was then planted, we continued dialogue with him and we both agreed it would be something we could really have a go at. With his experience in competitive gaming, Tanner is being given the green light to recruit his own team-mates and we can’t wait to see him play under the Ants banner”

Tanner himself is delighted, speaking to the Ants website last night he said ” To become the head of eSports and eSports player for such a recently well known club is amazing. It’s such an honor to put on the green and white colors and represent this club in my own way. I hope to be able to do well and this club into some well placed events within FIFA and bring on some other talent as well in the future. I am excited for the journey and hope to be here a while with the great people of the Saint Anthony’s Football Club. #ForzaAnts#ItsAnEsportsAntsThing “

We asked Tanner to tell us a little bit more about himself “My name is Tanner Kremer, I am a 20 year old from the Bowling Green, Kentuck, USA. I do quality work at the Corvette factory here in town as a full time job. I actually only became a football fan the year of 2014 and I fell in love with FC Barcelona. I am a massive animal person and with that being said I have two cats that are just absolutely amazing little creatures. They both were adopted within the year and are not your typical cats. I’ve been within the eSports world since the year 2012 starting with Call of Duty: Black Ops II. I played Call of Duty eSports for 4 years up until 2016 and got my first FIFA game which was FIFA 15. I transitioned to FIFA eSports during the current FIFA 19 game. Played in my first tournament at a local USL club and placed top 4 of 32 teams. “

We are excited to see how Tanner gets on and will share his progress on the website as well as on our social media platforms, he also hosts a daily stream on twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/itsmatriix10/).

Welcome to the Ants Tanner, here’s to a successful partnership

#forzaants #itsanesportsantsthing

Ants land Leszczynski

The club are delighted to announce the signing of striker Kamil Leszczynski. Kamil has played a couple of games this season as a trialist and has impressed the McKenna Park faithful with his hard work and eye for goal, having opened his account for the club back in September against Vale of Clyde. Manager John Kelly is delighted to finally have secured his signature.

I am delighted to have finally secured Kamil’s signature for The Ants. He is a player who I have worked with in the youth ranks and in the amateurs and its great to finally see him put pen to paper at McKenna Park. Kamil’s a real talent and he will add the extra quality to the team we needed. I have no doubt in the coming months, hopefully seasons away from a selfish point of view, bigger teams will come calling

Kamil will go straight into contention for a place in the team for Saturday’s match at home to Ashfield.

Captain Conway back to face Ashfield

Ants captain Anton Conway is available for selection this week having missed the past 2 games whilst he was getting married and will be looking to help the team bounce back from a 2-0 loss to Lanark last time out. The captain’s return will be a boost to The Ants against an experienced Ashfield side who themselves will be looking to bounce back from a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Vale of Clyde last Saturday.

Ants in double swoop as Fitzpatrick and Smith sign up

Steven Fitzpatrick

The club are delighted to announce the signings of former Johnstone Burgh forward Steven Fitzpatrick and Paul Smith from Eastwood Mount AFC. Both featured in last weeks 5-1 defeat at home to Muirkirk and have impressed manager John Kelly in training. Speaking to the Ants

Paul Smith

website John said “Fitzy has been on trial with us for the last few weeks and he has done very well. He is another attacking option for us who can play up top, out wide or in the middle of the pitch which will be a geat asset for us throughout the season.I have been impressed with his work rate and his movement when looking to get on the ball and Paul is another player who has been on trial with us for the last few weeks and Paul has definitely got a great quality. Paul is an attacking midfielder who can also play out wide.Paul is great with the ball at his feet and has has a real eye for goal. I am looking forward to both players pulling on the hoops at McKenna Park

Snow Joke….Ants game is ON!

Todays game v Muirkirk at McKenna Park is ON despite the wintery weather. Kick off is at 1:45pm with entry £5 adults and £2.50 OAP/Conc, Under 16’s in free.

The Ants come into todays game on the back of a fine 4-0 win v Annbank last time out with Ants gaffer John Kelly in a confident mood and looking to avenge the defeat from earlier in the season Speaking to the Ants Website he said “Today see’s us back in action at McKenna Park against Muirkirk. The previous fixture saw Muirkirk claim all three points with a dubious 94th minute penalty but the game itself was a close contest with both teams having a real go at each other” He was looking for a similar result and performance which saw us take all 3 points against Annbank

We played Annbank here a couple of weeks ago and we were brilliant, winning four nil with probably our best performance of the season so if we can manage to put in that level of performance matched by the work ethic we instil in our players, even with a few players missing, we should be confident of taking all 3 points

Heres hoping the gaffer is right and we push on from last time out with another win so come along and get behind the team and see if we can add a bit of Ants festive cheer to your Saturday, It’s either that or Christmas shopping eh?

Ants say Balls to Cancer

The club are delighted to announce a partnership with male cancer charity Balls to Cancer. The partnership will see The club proudly display the logo on their front of their shorts to raise awareness and promote the charity through social media.

Balls to Cancer are spending time and money on a nationwide (and in some cases worldwide) awareness campaign through the media, social networks, leaflets and posters, to try to make both men and women more aware of the dangers of cancer and to help men help themselves. We both believe that prevention is the key to beating cancer. Speaking to the Ants website Balls to Cancer Co-founder Mark Bates said

We are so grateful for the support given to us by Saint Anthony’s FC. We know that awareness is the key to beating testicular cancer. This simple show of support will save lives.

For more information on the great work that they do please visit http://ballstocancer.com

Ants get On The Ball to provide free sanitary products at McKenna Park

The Club have joined up with the On The Ball campaign to provide free sanitary products in the ladies facilities at McKenna Park. The campaign was set up to raise awareness of period poverty and we are delighted to play our small part starting from our next home game on 3rd November. We are the 35th club to sign up to the campaign in the UK, with Everton becoming the 36th club shortly after us.

We agree with the key messages of the campaign –

and look forward to seeing the campaign grow bigger as it gathers support. For more information on the campaign visit their twitter feed @onthebaw

#AnnounceFraser

The club are delighted to announce the signing of Fraser Williams. Fraser made his debut in Saturdays great 3-1 win at home to Johnstone Burgh and Ants manager John Kelly is buzzing to have secured his signature. Speaking to the Ants website John said

I am delighted to add Fraser to the squad. Fraser is a winger who is very direct and has bags of quality, I can’t wait to see more of him in an Ants jersey this season. He has a real hunger and determination about him which fits perfectly with the model of the current squad

Welcome on board Fraser!

Duffy debut delight as Ants beat Carluke

The Ants put a run of four straight single goal defeats behind them to take all three points at the John Cumming stadium in a match that in truth could have finished 6-6 on the chances created by both teams.

Carluke had the first real chance of the game when a cross was inches away from the head of Haley but the striker couldn’t connect and the chance was gone, The Ants thought they had taken the lead in the 12th minute of the match when Grant Kelly put Graeme Crawford through on goal, his shot was saved by the keeper and in raced John Ball to knock the rebound into the net, however somehow the man in the middle deemed Ball to be offside despite being behind both Crawford and a Carluke defender when the shot was hit much to the annoyance of the Ants fans and management alike.  The game flowed from end to end and Biggart found Jeffrey on the edge of the box but he dragged at the shot and it went past without troubling. Carluke took the lead in the 22nd minute in what appeared to be even more controversy. SAM BIGGART looked to try and whip a cross into the box on the volley but it looped over McCallum, appeared to hit the inside of the post and shoot back out, the ref was in no doubt though that the ball had crossed the line from his postion 25 yards away, The Ants players questioned the decision with Ball picking a booking for his protests, having reviewed the video at about 5 different speeds you have to say he got the decision spot on. McKenna then came close for Rovers but McCallum saved well with his legs and the chance was kicked to safety. The Ants were in the hunt for the equaliser and Littler headed just over before Conway failed to connect with a header properly under pressure from Weir, McIlvaney’s cross saw Kelly’s effort saved on the line by Tobin and Ball’s shot from the rebound deflected off McAllister and was hacked off the line by a Rovers defender and the halftime scoreline was Carluke 1 v 0 Ants.

Within a minute of the restart the Ants were level when RALPH GAMBA got on the end of Littler’s throw in to head past Tobin to the delight of the travelling Ants fans. The second half seemed to follow a similar pattern to the first with both sides enjoying spells of pressure and creating chances. Gallacher sent Ball through on goal but the Ants striker’s shot was well held by Tobin then Biggart fired in a great cross which flew over the Ants six yard box but Littler was on hand to clear. Weir then fired a shot from 25 yards which McCallum did really well not only to save but to hold onto the ball with a Rovers player closing in to pick up on any rebounds. The Rovers captain then hit the bar with a tremendous effort from fully 30 yards which had McCallum rooted to the spot but luckily the Ants managed to clear the danger from the rebound and the chance was gone. Rovers were enjoying their best spell of the game with these chances and McCallum had to be sharp again this time to deny Haley with his legs. From the resultant corner the Ants had Crawford to thank for keeping the scores level when Haley got on the end of the cross but the Ants man headed off the line before Marshall deflected Weir’s effort out for a corner from the goal line. The Ants survived this 10 minute spell and started to come more into the game again, Kelly was unlucky with an overhead kick attempt before Gamba almost got on the end of a Crawford cross but a Rovers defender beat the Ants man to it and headed it out for a corner. In the 85th minute the Ants brought on TONY DUFFY for his debut, replacing John Ball and it turned out to be an inspired substitution as one minute later he raced onto a through ball from Littler to fire past Tobin and give the Ants a 2-1 lead with 4 minutes left on the clock. Deep into injury time another Rovers corner caused a bit of a scramble in the Ants six yard box but McCallum eventually gathered the ball and the Ants had stopped the rot and put their first three points on the board.

Ants Website Man of the Match –