We are back at our NDP for some more Premier Sports Cup action!

Topflight opposition, a sell out crowd and TV crews rolling into Boomtown. It’s an extremely exciting time to support Bonnyrigg Rose.

But before we get to taking on the Hibees, let’s rewind to midweek, as we faced off against cinch League One side Clyde in our first ever Premier Sports Cup appearance and our first competitive fixture of the 2022/23 season.

Robbie Horn had a fair few selection headaches through injuries and player unavailability. Despite this, a starting eleven that included our latest recruit, 19-year-old defender Josh Grigor, shone at New Douglas Park.

Our chosen, fearsome strike partnership of Keiran McGachie and Kieran Hall combined to give the Rose the lead after 20 minutes played. Hall snatched the ball away from his man and drove forward, before cutting it back to ex-Clyde man McGachie for a tidy finish into the far side of the goal.

Determined to not be left off the scoresheet, Hall snatched a goal for himself too. Kerr Young’s powerful header from a Lewis Turner corner was too much for opposition ‘keeper Josh Bradley Hurst to handle and his parry could only fall to the feet of our Geordie, who made no mistake in stabbing home the ball to give Rose a two-goal cushion.

Against the run of play, the hosts got themselves right back in it at the worst of times. Just seconds before half-time, Barry Cuddihy teed up Ross Cunningham and the forward unleashed a fierce, low strike that Mikey Andrews had little chance of stopping.

Despite the late first-half blow, Rose held on. Substitutes came on to reinforce a leggy squad still recovering from a short turnaround from last season, with Conor Doan and Kevin Smith both making their first competitive appearances for the club following their introductions.

Three points secured, onto the next one. And it doesn’t get much bigger than this. As already stated, a sell out crowd is ready to consume one of NDP’s greatest ever ties as we welcome Hibernian to EH19.

The Hibees have made a turbulent start to Group D. An encouraging 5-0 thrashing of Clyde was followed up by a woeful 1-0 defeat to third tier Falkirk. A fantastic header from midfielder Aiden Nesbitt decided the tie at Falkirk Stadium as the visitors struggled to impose themselves on their hosts.

It was unlikely to be a walkover group stage for Hibs, with summer incomings and outgoings both reaching double figures – the latest being the departure of young starlet Josh Doig to Serie A side Hellas Verona and the subsequent signing of Dinamo Zagreb full-back Marijan Čabraja as his replacement – under the direction of new manager Lee Johnson.

There is the thrilling bonus of this tie being a personal clash for many players and fans of the club, who may also have a particular bias for or against the Cabbage – such as Neil Martyniuk who played for Hibs in his academy days or skipper Jonny Stewart who represented city rivals Hearts.

A further reason for this clash being a personal battle for many can come down to the last time the two clubs faced off. After seeing off Glasgow University, Burntisland Shipyard (in a 14-0 obliteration), Turriff United, Cove Rangers and Championship side Dumbarton, Tynecastle Park played host to our historic Scottish Cup fourth round meeting with Hibs in January 2017.

Besting two Highland sides and a second-tier club is one thing, but Scottish Cup holders Hibernian proved too much for the East Super League Rose side. An 8-1 battering was handed out in Gorgie, with Dean Hoskins grabbing our only goal of the game from the penalty spot.

Seven members of that Rose team remain to this day (Andrews, Horne, Young, Stewart, Turner, McGachie, S. Gray) and all could feature on Sunday. For the record, Hibs have only player/coach Darren McGregor and evergreen full-back Lewis Stevenson still at the club – the latter nabbed one goal and two assists that day.

Bonnyrigg Rose have grown in the five-and-a-half years since, however. Now an SPFL club, and with points in the bag already for this Group D showdown, who knows what could happen?

Tickets for this mammoth fixture are sold out. Kick-off is 3pm on Sunday, 17th July at New Dundas Park. Please follow any further instructions detailed on our social media accounts if attending the game, as well as reading our match day protocols for the game.

FYI, 6-year-old Orla Ferguson, a Hibs season ticket holder and Bonnyrigg Rose player, has recently been fundraising for the Dnipro Kids Charity. The charity has helped many young Ukrainian orphans escape the ongoing conflict in their country. Over £700 has been raised for the charity so far and this Sunday, Orla and her family will be doing a bucket collection outside NDP. Orla will be collecting donations until 2.50pm.

If you can’t make the game, it has also been selected for live television coverage and will be available to watch on Premier Sports.

As ever, ‘Mon the Rose!

Article Copyright © 2022. Permission to use quotations from this or any article on the website is only granted subject to appropriate source credit and for online use source credit and hyperlink to www.bonnyriggrosefc.co.uk