Edinburgh City hand Bairns wake-up call
The Capital combine travel to Prestonfield for the game and the date and time still have to be confirmed.
However, the club's proposed friendly with Gartcairn on Tuesday, July 1, has been cancelled.
On Saturday, City travelled to Falkirk and beat The Bairns 3-2 after leading 3-0 at the break and the result was a real wake-up call for the side newly-promoted to the William Hill Premiership.
Falkirk manager John McGlynn fielded a strong squad for the friendly ahead of the League Cup group stage and the home side battled back via a Scott Arfield strike followed by an own goal, but they could not find another
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STV News
3 hours ago
- STV News
Russell Martin: Rangers should not be fazed by prospect of Champions League
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Scotsman
3 hours ago
- Scotsman
New signings, Hearts tactics, the stutter at St Mirren and what comes next
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If Saturday was a jolt, there is plenty time to use it positively and continue the recent improvement. READ MORE: Baningime wants more responsibility READ MORE: Candid reaction from McInnes
Scotsman
4 hours ago
- Scotsman
Rangers' injury 'concern' revealed as Nicolas Raskin rumours and Jayden Meghoma status addressed
Nigerian hitman is 'touch and go' for Champions League clash with Club Brugge Sign up to our Football newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Rangers manager Russell Martin has revealed Cyriel Dessers is a major doubt to feature in the club's biggest game of the season so far as the Ibrox side prepare to face Club Brugge in a Champions League play-off first leg in Glasgow. It had been hoped that the striker, who hurt his ankle in last week's defeat to Viktoria Plzen, would recover in time to face the Belgians in the first match of a two-legged shootout to reach the Champions League on Tuesday. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad As much as £40 million is estimated to be riding on the tie. Martin all but confirmed after Saturday's League Cup win over Alloa Athletic that Hamza Igamane is not a contender to start due to lack of fitness. It leaves Brazilian striker Danilo, who has yet to score this season, as the likeliest option to lead the line against Brugge as Rangers seek to establish an advantage to take to Belgium next week. Cyriel Dessers picked up an injury for Rangers last week against Viktoria Plzen. | SNS Group 'Big Cyriel is probably the only concern,' Martin said. 'He'll be touch and go. He's responded really well to treatment. It was nowhere near as bad as we first feared. So if it's not tomorrow, we expect him to be back for the weekend (v St Mirren) and next week.' Martin expressed his hope that new loan signing Jayden Meghoma from Brentford will be eligible to play and so the left-back could feature. 'I think he's going to be registered in time for tomorrow's match,' he said. 'We hope so anyway, so we'll have to wait and see. But yeah, that's the hope, that he can be in the squad. He trained today and yesterday so we'll see if he's ready to go.' The manager is also confident that Nico Raskin is in the right frame of mind to play, with the midfielder the subject of more rumours about his future. There has been a suggestion that he had asked to leave the club but Martin denied this and stressed the Belgian is returning to top form. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Raskin rumours addressed 'I think he'll get better and better,' he said. 'The only reason he wasn't in the squad on Saturday was for a rest, but he's trained really well. I think he's going to be a big player for us. 'I said that from the beginning. I've also said it's been a difficult summer for him. But really, the last few weeks, I've loved the energy that Nico's brought. He is going to be really important for us. He will play tomorrow night and he'll be a good player for us.' On the specific issue of Raskin's future, Martin added: 'No, he's been really good. We analysed his clips, me and him together, from the game against Plzen last Tuesday. So, no, I've not heard anything (about him asking to leave). Not at all. He's been brilliant. I'm pretty sure Kevin (Thelwell, sporting director) and Patrick (Stewart, chief executive) would have told me if we'd heard that sooner.' Russell Martin speaks to the press ahead of Rangers v Club Brugge. | SNS Group It's unusual that Rangers face such a crucial European tie against a team they played only as recently as last month. The Belgian side are making a quick return to Ibrox having shared four goals with Rangers in a friendly near the start of July in Martin's first match as manager. He said only a limited amount could be taken from that meeting. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Brugge have since won two of their first three league games, losing the other, and made it past Red Bull Salzburg in the previous Champions League qualifying round. Their head coach Nicky Hayen was manager of Haverfordwest County in the Cymru League in Wales while Martin was in charge of Swansea. 'Both teams look very different already,' said Martin, with reference to the 2-2 friendly draw, when Rangers came back from being 2-0 down at half-time. 'There's a few patterns we definitely looked at over the last few days that have been consistent in their games moving forward.
