Selkirk 2

Thorn Athletic 1

David Knox at Yarrow Park

ASSESSING Selkirk for the forthcoming season on Saturday’s showing is close to impossible.

With seven of Garry O’Connor’s summer additions missing due to holidays and other previous commitments, the team to face the Glaswegian amateurs had a distinct flavour of last season.

But there was still plenty to encourage the Yarrow Park faithful with debutant Gary Nicholson netting the opener, full back Jack Moyes never putting a foot wrong, and former Hibs player Stuart Fleming impressing in the middle of the park.

Manager O’Connor told us: “The pitch was in great shape and it allowed us to pass the ball about which was good.

“They are a good team for being amateurs yet we were still able to play through them at times.

“I want a team with a winning mentality so it was important to get off to a winning start.

“We have seven players to come into the team that you saw out there today, so it’s fair to say there’s a lot more to come from us.”

For the past three Lowland League seasons expectation at Selkirk grows with arrival of players with known pedigree.

There have been English, French and more than a handful of Scottish age-group internationalists pulling into the car park… unfortunately they rarely remain more than a month or two.

This year feels a bit different.

With former Dundee United star Davie Robertson away to Cowdenbeath, England Under 20s cap Bayan Fenwick returning to London, and former Scotland centre-half Garry Kenneth unable to commit due to work and the 200-mile round trip from his Dundee home, the days of the headline names have gone.

And they are being replaced by the kind of player O'Connor believes will battle it out in the Lowland League.

While only a handful of the new faces turned out on Saturday there was a tenacious quality throughout the team which has often been lacking since the formation of the pyramid system.

Phil Addison, who continues to stand out as Selkirk’s best goal threat, tormented the Glaswegians all afternoon with his trickery and turns.

And in defence James Harley appears to grow in stature and ability with each passing season.

Addison twice forced good saves from Liam McWilliams before the home team broke the deadlock on 23 minutes.

Nicholson, who had looked lively enough in the opening stages, took advantage of some hesitant defending to rattle the ball home from close range.

The arrival of Fleming off the bench before the half hour gave Selkirk a better shape and allowed Ross King to charge forward at every opportunity.

For all of the home team’s good work, they were almost caught out just before the break. Jordan Devine raced into the area and, although his shot squirmed beneath trialist keeper Dan Terry, Jamie Pyper had backtracked to clear the ball off the line.

A Connor McGowan header shaved the bar for the visitors at the start of the second period.

But moments later a Fleming header at the other end was cleared off the line.

Fraser Neave was also denied before the hour by the feet of the Thorn keeper.

The Caledonian Premier team grabbed an equaliser on 62 minutes with Anthony Galbraith firing home after the Selkirk defence failed to clear a freekick.

The response from the Yarrow Park players was good with Addison shooting inches wide before flicking a Nicholson cross past the wrong side of the post.

The winner eventually arrived three minutes from time as Addison played a fantastic one-two with Ryan Scott before slamming a terrific low shot into the far corner.

O’Connor added: “We have only trained twice before today’s game and we’re going to get a lot better.

“We have the facilities to use at Hibernian now which helps us and we’ll have the boys in good shape for the start of the season.”

Selkirk. D Terry, J Pyper, J Moyes, C McDiarmid, J Harley, B Fairgreive (S Fleming 26), F Neave (G McCormack 75), G Nicholson, R Scott (S Flowden 86), R King & P Addison.