LEITH ATHLETIC and Edinburgh City clash tomorrow in one of the most historic football matches in the Capital for many years as these two clubs have not met each other in the senior competition since 1949.
Eugene Taylor, the former manager of Edinburgh Athletic, has retained the same role with Leith Athletic and he explained: "Towards the end of last season, I was approached by representatives of Leith Athletic regarding a possible amalgamation of th
e two clubs.
"I realised very quickly that they were real football people who had the same mindset as me and they wanted to take Leith Athletic to the next level.
"Their chairman, Gerry Freedman and committee members Tam Currie and Matt Hutchison, to name only three, have been fantastic in their dealings with me. They provide me and my coaching staff with everything we need and we all work as a team."
The amalgamation of Leith Athletic's amateur team and the Edinburgh Athletic semi- professional team is a challenge which Taylor is enjoying. "We retained basically most of the two sides from last season which means that we have about 28 players at training," added Taylor.
"We wanted to give everybody a chance although the squad will probably end up being about 20 or 22. There will be natural migration as we get into the opening weeks of the season.
"Our aim this season is to establish ourselves in the First Division and on the evidence so far we certainly have the players capable of doing that."
Taylor has players like Neil Ewart, a defender who was his assistant manager at Edinburgh but who can now concentrate totally on playing. Striker Ian Cartwright, defender Ritchie Johnston and midfielder Mike Black are other players who were previously with Edinburgh.
Leith Athletic have provided Chris Beatton, an outstanding prospect, along with former Scottish Amateur cap Steve Radzinski, defender Mike Stewart and former Lothian Thistle players Stewart Hunter.
"I watched Edinburgh City in their 5-3 win against Easthouses Lily on Wednesday night," said Taylor. "I know their strengths and weaknesses and I have pinpointed one or two areas which we need to exploit.
"We also need to defend well and I have a game plan which hopefully we can work to.
"It will not be easy and we will have to play at the top of our form while we could do with City having an off-day. They have Steven Clee and Robbie Ross up front and they both look dangerous.
"City are a good team to watch and while we respect them we certainly do not fear them. We will have our boys well prepared and hopefully we can surprise them.
"We must, however, concentrate for the entire 90 minutes."
Edinburgh City visit Marine Drive for this SFA South Region Challenge Cup first round tie as last season's beaten finalists after losing to Annan Athletic who are now members of the SFL.
Shaun Steven, the City boss, said: "It is a historic game and with Leith Athletic being new to the set up they will be well up for the game.
"I don't know a lot about them but they have players who have played at a decent level. They were beaten in their opening game and will be looking to bounce back so I will have to ensure that my players are on their toes.
"Leith will be trying much harder because they are playing against a team from a higher division.
"This is a big cup competition and we want to do well and would like to emulate getting to last season's final but this time go one better and win it."
City will be without the suspended John Hall while Robbie Ross suffered a bruised calf muscle in their mid-week win against Easthouses and is doubtful.
The action kicks off at Civil Service playing fields, Marine Drive, with a 2.30pm kick off.
The full article contains 661 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
