FPs boss wants to go up after coming so close this year

Jun 17 2009 by Andrew Weston, Wishaw Press

WISHAW HSFPs boss Gary Hailstones is aiming for promotion next season after the amateur side enjoyed a successful first year in the Foster’s Central leagues.

At the end of the 2007/08 campaign, the FPs quit the Lanarkshire Amateur Football Association (LAFA), ending their 50-year affiliation with the association.

Last term they narrowly missed out on second place in Central Division 1B that would have put them into an end of season promotion play-off.

But 41-year-old Hailstones believes they can take encouragement from their league and cup performances and push towards a place in the top flight.

His side upset top Premier Division outfit Harestanes on their way to the last 32 of the Scottish Amateur Cup and finished third in the league.

“If you had said at the start of the season we would have gone into the last league game with a chance of promotion we would have taken that,” Hailstones told the Wishaw Press this week.

“It was very pleasing although I was just a wee bit disappointed we missed out on the play-offs.”

Wishaw lost to Campsie Minerva 2-1 in the last game of the season, and that allowed Minerva to squeeze into the play-off berth by just a single point.

Hailstones said: “They deserved to beat us on the day.

“What was good about our season was that we still had something to play for in the final game unlike many of the mid-table teams.

“We have played a number of sides that we will face next season so we know how they play.

“I quite fancy ourselves and we will be chasing first place that’s for sure.”

The way the Central Leagues are structured means a draw takes place before the season starts involving all the lower divisions sides and from there teams are put into either Division 1A or 1B.

This coming season, Wishaw HSFPs will face eight new clubs including a trip to relegated Gourock Athletic.

The problems associated with long away-day journeys has always been an issue for local sides who have opted to leave the Lanarkshire leagues to join associations involving clubs from further afield.

But Hailstones, who began his career at Newmains under-21s, believes it won’t be a major issue saying: “Last season it was not too bad.

“Spartans in Edinburgh was the furthest we had to travel.

“This time we will be going down to Gourock and playing Drumchapel.

“It is not a problem on Saturdays but I guess it can be a slight problem during the week when guys are coming straight from work.”

Having been away from the LAFA for one season, Hailstones has been able to better judge the standard of the Central Leagues compared to the Lanarkshire equivalent and feels the new set-up is more competitive.

He said: “As I have said before the Lanarkshire league still has some quality teams with probably a nucleus of four or five good teams.

“Out of the 12 teams that we played against in our league there was probably 10 that were very competitive against each other.

“Every game you had to fight to get a win.”

He added: “Spartans were the best team in our league last season, better than some of the Premier League teams that we played in the cup competitions.

“The facilities and set-up they have got are second to none but it can be quite hard to compete against sides with facilities like that.”

Wishaw’s recruitment drive is already in full swing having being boosted by the signing of defender Gerry Jamieson who was Lesmahagow Juniors’ Player of the Year last term.

The club have also snapped up midfielder David Paris from West Calder Juniors and they will welcome striker Alan Patrick from Harestanes to pre-season training.