Ready to make history?
Come this Saturday, PSJ will be taking part in their first ever British cup quarter final. PSJ have been on good form lately with strong performances against Dunfermline, Raith Rovers and Troon. This has to be put down to being able to field almost the same team every week. After a difficult start to the season, PSJ have turned things around and manager Kevin Riddle had this to say, “we have turned it around big time, this has been down to long hours on the training ground and my change of tactics”. It has to be said PSJ have developed a style of play that Barcelona would be proud of. So from these recent performances does that mean PSJ are high in confidence?
The evening tullygraph spoke to PSJ veteran striker Alistair Pops yesterday about PSJ chances in Saturday game, “I really do think we can win this game, mean, we are the underdogs according to the bookies but that has happened a few times this season and it doesn’t bother us as players, we just turn up and play. I remember back in the day when PSJ were the worst team in the league, and I scored the first ever PSJ goal…”. PSJ travel down south on Thursday evening where they will have a training session on the pitch on the Friday before finding a strip club to spend their coppers. This has been shown to be a successful method of match preparation, as in the past PSJ players have displayed their appreciation at the down time before an important match, however, Nicholas Church was unavailable to comment.
Manager Kevin Riddle has no injury concerns ahead of Saturday, but what he will have is a selection headache. There are a number of positions that have a number of players available for selection, such as young Rhuari Klumber after putting in an impressive performance on Saturday up front. After his brace at the weekend, Rhuari was said to be over the moon from this performance, however he is too young to be interviewed, so there was no confirmation about his comments. PSJ new keeper Michael Dustbunny has been receiving a lot of praise of late, firstly for quitting smoking and drinking but also his heroic performances between the sticks. He demonstrates all the qualities to be the next Kevin Cuthbert, and he seems so determined to keep a clean sheet during the games, he had this to say, “clean sheets? Clean pants”.
There is said to be a squad of seventeen players heading south and it could potentially be the strongest squad in PSJ history. Kevin had this to say regarding the large squad “its big, but I have a feeling I will lose some players to alcoholism and needsleepism but I need to prepare for all of them to be there”. One of the main factors that have caused the team to improve is the new young players coming through thanks to the youth academy of PSJ. Head of the academy Michael Rodriguez has developed players such as Johnathan Yates, Daniel Scoot, Matthew Gillygrust and the famous Harry Pothead. Without a doubt this is the way football clubs are trying to do now, develop younger players to save money on wages.
PSJ who are currently sitting second in the league go into this match having no fear for Saturday, they have built confidence from their previous matches and also in the last round where they beat Barnsley. Winning this match is not mission impossible and the players will know this. They will have worked on Southport’s weaknesses and learned about their strengths; together as a team, PSJ can make history.
Dustin Bucket
