MILLFIELD is a place that Joe Hamill knows very well.
But, for the first time, he will be hoping the home team are not victorious this Saturday.
Hamill swapped Haddington Athletic for Musselburgh Athletic at the start of the season and the two clubs now lock horns for a place in the last 16 of the East of Scotland League Cup.
Hamill – along with his successor Scott Bonar, who worked alongside him for three years – was looking forward to the occasion.
The Musselburgh manager said there were “absolutely no hard feelings” between the two parties and told Courier Sport: “Scott has worked in football for a long time and done coaching for a lot longer than me.
“He knows a lot of players coming through and has had players going on to play senior football.
“He has got Haddington playing a style of football, they are fit and he knows his stuff.
“We were at Haddington for a long time and we knew each other before that. We are friends but, during the game, my interest is a result for Musselburgh to try to get us through to the next round.
“After the game, it is back to normal.”
Both teams come into the game locked together on seven points, one point adrift of table-topping Heriot-Watt University.
The victors will go through to the knockout stages automatically, while the runners-up could yet join them as one of the four best second-placed sides.
Bonar said: “It has been a long year, a long season, and I think people will be happy to see [Hamill] back at Millfield.
“It is just another game to us.
“With it being the League Cup, it gives us a chance to gauge ourselves against a Premier Division team – that’s a bonus.
“There is nothing else in it and it is just another game.
“We would like to finish the section on top, just like Musselburgh, and I’m sure it will be a decent game.
“I’ve still got Joe’s laddie in my under-16s – there’s no animosity or anything like that.”
Musselburgh come into the game with the superior goal difference after thumping Conference X side Pumpherston 8-1 on Saturday.
A hat-trick from Jordan Smith and a first Burgh strike from Matthew Knox helped the Premier Division team to a comfortable win.
Hamill, who spent more than four years with Haddington and guiding them in their first ever Scottish Cup run, said: “People look at it on paper and think it is a given we would win but anybody that has been involved in sport knows you can only beat what’s in front of you.”
While Hamill’s team were contesting three points in the League Cup, Bonar and his team were south of the Border on First Division Conference A business.
A 4-0 win over Tweedmouth Rangers moved them level with Leith Athletic at the top, though one goal behind on goal difference.
Haddington have a game in hand over their rivals, with six games left to play.
Bonar was pleased with his side’s focus in defeating a Tweedmouth side who sit 13th in the table.
The manager said: “Every game is just the same approach.
“We approach it in the same manner, irrespective of who the opposition are.
“It is all about that 90 minutes.”
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