FRIENDSHIPS will be put aside for 90 minutes on Friday (December 30) as Preston Athletic travel to Dunbar United.
The two county sides are involved in a hotly contested promotion battle from the East of Scotland Football League (EoSFL) First Division.
Dunbar were relegated from the top flight last season, while Preston agonisingly missed out on promotion on the last day.
Now, both clubs are looking to move up to the Premier Division, which is home to fellow county sides Haddington Athletic and Musselburgh Athletic.
Paul Currie, player/manager of the Pennypit side, was looking forward to the game and hopefully ending the year with three points.
He said: “I get on quite well with Kevin Haynes and Gary Small [at Dunbar].
“We have all played the game and get on quite well but obviously it is a game of football I want to win.
“I want to win every game, whether it is a friendly or the World Cup final. That is just how I am.
“We will go down there and try our best to get three points.
“They are a really, really strong side.
“Kevin has recruited really, really well and they are just a strong, well-organised team.
“It will be a tough game but we will see how it goes on the day.”
The two sides have already met on two occasions this campaign.
Currie’s men picked up three points in the league but Dunbar ended their rivals’ Challenge Cup journey at New Countess Park.
Midfielder Currie, who was part of Jack Lynch’s team that came close to promotion last term, said: “It is a game I am really looking forward to.
“It is always good to go down there and their park is always immaculate.
“There is no excuse to not play football and that is how we like to try to play.
“I think the game down there in the cup, we lost 4-1 but I would say on another day we win the game.
“I know it sounds stupid, but we created a lot of good chances that day.
“They took their chances at the right time and that is football sometimes. We created 10 good chances and ended up getting beat 4-1.”
Preston were one of a handful of sides in competitive action over the weekend as winter weather wiped out large swathes of the fixture card.
Before Christmas, Preston drew 2-2 with Leith Athletic, while Musselburgh Athletic were 3-2 winners at Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale.
Currie, who previously played for the Olivebank outfit, was left disappointed only to take a single point, which nudged his team up to fifth in the standings.
He told Courier Sport: “We probably could have been 3-0 down after 20 minutes and rode our luck but from 10 minutes to go in the first half until probably 10 minutes from time we were well on top.
“I was really disappointed after the game – it felt like a defeat.”
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