The Greenock Telegraph reports

GREENOCK Wanderers will finally get their competitive season up and running tomorrow evening when Scottish Premier One side Glasgow Hawks visit Fort Matilda for a pre-season friendly.

Former Wanderers player Brendan McGroarty.
The format of the session will consist of training drills incorporating players from both sides and will conclude with an hour long practice match between the teams.
Hawks are bringing a large squad of players which will include former Wanderers Brendan McGroarty, Jack Macfarlane, Andy Kirkland and Jono Wright and it will be interesting to see how the former Greenock men perform against their old club.
The Wanderers coaching team though will be fully focused on their own side and they will be looking for a big performance from their players as the competition for a starting berth in this season’s top team begins in earnest.
At this stage of the season the performance as opposed to the result is the most important aspect and head Coach Graham Knox will experiment with key partnerships in his team throughout the match.
A strong and efficient set piece is a key requirement for any successful side and Wanderers will look to get the basics right at scrummage, lineout and restart time and new captain Murray MacDonald will be in the thick of the action in these areas of the contest.
He will be joined by top team regulars Matt Gray, Alan McMichael, Ally Abernethy, Martin Lavelle and Andy Love who look likely to form the nucleus of the pack this season.
Former skipper and highly rated prop forward Dougie Smith also returns to the fray after a year-long sabbatical and his undoubted talents will be welcomed back in the front row.
Behind the scrum the big debate amongst Wanderers enthusiasts is who will fill the huge void left by last season’s captain and star centre Brendan McGroarty.
McGroarty’s outstanding ability will be sorely missed but there are a number of good quality players capable of joining vice-captain Kieren Smith in what will be a new central midfield pairing.
Sean Connolly, Leigh Tyley, Gregor Fletcher and Michael Frizzell are all obvious candidates but Knox will experiment with his personnel over the four pre-season fixtures and make his choice once he is satisfied that he has the best duo possible at his disposal.
Knox will also give youth its chance and a plethora of youngsters are included with the intention to give them game time during the match.
Tomorrow night’s entertainment starts at 7.15pm and admission is free.
Wanderers are sponsored by Texas Instruments.

This article was posted on 4-Aug-2014, 19:30 by Hugh Barrow.