Category: General Club News

Ants Pre-Season Schedule

The Ants will start their pre-season schedule with a trip away to Beechwood Park to take on east region side Stoneyburn on the 15th of July, with a 2:30pm kick off. Next up is a trip to the Showpark to face recently promoted East Kilbride on the 17th of July, the kick off time has yet to be confirmed for this one.

We then travel away to Kilwinning Rangers on Friday 21st July, Kick Off time still to be confirmed before our first home game of the pre-season schedule with Yoker visiting McKenna Park on the 26th with a 7:30pm Kick Off.

Our last game of the pre-season schedule sees us take on St Roch’s for the Mark Ritchie Memorial Cup on the 31st of July with the kick off time still being confirmed.

A varied selection of teams should give the Ants fans a good look at the new guys, see how the re-signed players are shaping up and give us our first glimpses of the new management team.

Cmon The Ants!

 

Dougan deal done as Adam re-signs

Ants defender Adam Dougan has become the latest player to re-sign for the club for the new season. The ex Queen of the South and Carluke player signed for the club in October last year and made 10 appearances in all competitions and towards the end of the season had made himself a regular in the first team with a string of good performances.

Here’s to this season, welcome back again Adam.

 

Ants painting the town green as DS Decor sponsor club.

Coatbridge based painters and decorators DS Decor are today unveiled as the new Away shirt sponsor for the club for Season 2017/18. We are delighted to have them on board and look forward to building a strong relationship with Connor and Martin.

DS are available for domestic and commercial work UK wide and provide Interior/exterior painting. Wallpapering, ames taping, coving, etc. with all materials supplied.

They also offer a free quotation service and you can find their contact details and customer reviews on their Facebook page.

Speaking exclusively to the Ants website co-owner Martin Lochran had this to say “We are delighted to sponsor such a well run club like The Ants and here’s to success on and off the field on all fronts”.

We couldn’t agree more Martin

Cmon The Ants!

Donaghy to stay and Lennox joins management team

Ants coach Raymie Donaghy has committed to staying with the club next year as a coach and will be joined by James Lennox as John Doyle and Ronnie McDonald continue their rebuilding for the new season.

Raymie joined the management team last season and we are thrilled he has decided to stay on as a coach following the management restructure. James has coaching experience from his time at Neilston where he was both a coach and then assistant manager before returning to McKenna Park as a player last season and has now taken the step up into the management team.

We are delighted both have decided to continue at McKenna Park

Cmon the Ants!!

New Ants Management team announced

The club are delighted to announce that John Doyle has been named as Saint Anthony’s FC Co-Manager, alongside Ronnie McDonald who continues in his role after outgoing Co-Manager Tony Kane made the decision to step down due to work commitments We would like to thank Tony for his hard work and dedication last season and we wish him every success with his business venture.

John has been involved with the Ants in the past as part of James McKenna’s coaching team and brings with him enthusiasm and experience having been in the junior game for a while now, most recently at Kirkintilloch Rob Roy as a coach, and a spell as Co-Manager at Cambuslang.

We are excited for the coming season, we are sure that Ronnie and John and the coaching staff are the right team to take the club forward on the park whilst we work hard behind the scenes to try and secure success off it.

The Official Ants website spoke to John who provided us with this statement –

I am delighted to be announced as Co Manager of St Anthony’s JFC, but firstly I would like to say massive thank you to Stewart Maxwell, Gordon Moffat and Kevin Finlayson, the players, committee and supporters and everyone linked with Kirkintilloch Rob Rob for a fantastic season, with such a great club, and to be part of a great season and winning my first trophy in junior football. Kirkintilloch Rob Roy is a club that is growing and with Stewart and the guys at the helm, I am sure they will continue be a success.

I am no stranger to St Anthony’s FC having been here on a few occasions before, however to come in as co manager is extra special and something I am really looking forward to. 
Having been in junior football for a while, I have always longed to be in the hot seat and although I had a short stint at Cambuslang Rangers, I never got the opportunity to continue.
However around a month ago the club approached Kirkintilloch Rob Roy for permission to speak to me, and after meeting Felix and the executive committee, I was delighted to accept the challenge.

The last few seasons hasn’t been the best for the Ants on and off the pitch which hasn’t been easy for everyone involved with the club. Now with my season over with Rob Roy, Ronnie and I can officially get to work on building the squad for the coming season, which is a big challenge but one we are confident in achieving.

We are also really exited about the clubs ambitions to build a youth set up as well and hope to have our first U21 team this time next season. We are also delighted with the clubs social media team that will be continuously providing updates of all the news and goings on at the club which will bring the club some much needed sponsorship and hopefully bring the local support to watch the team on a Saturday.

Lastly I would like to thank everyone at the Ants for this great opportunity and we will do our very best to make the season ahead a successful one.

Mon The Ants.

Look out for further announcements over the coming weeks as we gear up to the start of the New season

Duncan double gives Ants opening day win

Results

Club1st Half2nd HalfGoals
Saint Anthony’s FC112
Gartcairn Juniors000

 

A Wullie Duncan double secured all three points for the Ants in a tough match that saw them open their Central District Division 2 campaign with a fine win over Gartcairn at McKenna Park. The half was littered with half chances and only a top class Connolly save which showed pure reflex and a couple of good blocks from the ‘Cairn defence were the only chances of real note although the Ants can count themselves lucky not to have conceded a penalty when Crawford looked to have brought down a Gartcairn striker. The opening goal came In the 44th minute, a Michael O’Hara through ball found last seasons Ants top goalscorer WULLIE DUNCAN and he showed great composure to round Halliwell in the Cairn goal and slip the ball into an empty net. This gave the home side the momentum going into the second half and it could have been two after 53 minutes when Duncan again rounded the keeper only for a Gartcairn defender to get back to clear the ball when a goal looked certain. The Ants fans wouldn’t have to wait too long to celebrate another goal as on the 60th minute a fine knock on by Anton Conway found WULLIE DUNCAN in plenty of space inside the box and he slipped the ball past the keeper to put the Ants 2-0 ahead. Gartcairn were then reduced to ten men when their centre half Ryan Kennedy was sent off for foul and abusive language after taking umbrage with a decision from Referee Ferguson. From the resultant throw in the Ants had their own appeals for a penalty waved away when Grant Kelly’s run was blocked but again Mr Ferguson refused to point to the spot. In the 87th minute Connolly again did well to forearm the ball over the bar from a free kick after the ball bounced and shot upwards just as he was about to catch it. Dean McKay had the chance to wrap up the three points in the 82nd minute but another great block from a Gartcairn defender kept the ball from going goalwards. Gartcairn were appealing for another penalty in the 90th minute when a shot hit Lennox however Mr Ferguson ruled there was no intent and the score finished with a 2-0 win.

Ants Website Man of the Match – There were plenty of options for this one but in the end his deadly double earned WULLIE DUNCAN the award

Saint Anthony’s FC
1Jon Connolly Goalkeeper
2Graeme Crawford Defender
3Thomas Miller Defender
4James Lennox Defender
5Paul O’Brien Defender
6Anton Conway Defender
7Dean McKay Midfielder
8Michael O’Hara Midfielder
9Mark McCarry 15 Forward
10Grant Kelly Forward
11William Duncan Forward
12Ryan Smith Forward
14John McGowan Midfielder
15Craig Smith 9 Midfielder
16Maxi Neossi Midfielder
17Ross Cameron Defender

New Find A Player partnership company announced

Hot on the heels of yesterday’s Find A Player announcement, we are delighted to inform you of the second partner company that we will be dealing with through Find A Player. FanDuel UK are a Fantasy Sports Management company who have just launched the UK version of their product which, using multiple sports in the US, was a massive success. FanDuel gives you a budget of £100m every week to pick a team of Fantasy players from the Barclays Premier League which you then enter into either pay competitions or free to play competitions. For more info on how you can help the Ants visit our Find A Player page and good luck with your fantasy teams!!.

Ants Sign Partnership deal with Find A Player

The club are delighted to have secured a partnership deal with the app Find A Player. As part of the partnership the Ants will help promote the Find a Player app as well as companies that Find a Player have teamed up with in return for sponsorship. We are delighted to have reached this agreement and hope you will help us by using the App and signing up to the various promotions with Find A Player’s partners. More information can be found on the Find A Player page on this site.

New fixtures announced

The new fixtures for season 2016-17 have been released.

Ronnie and Tony’s first competitive game in charge is a trip away to Barrhead to face Arthurlie in the Exsel Group Sectional league cup on Saturday 6th August 2016 with a 2pm Kick Off. The remaining matches are below (Kick Off 2pm unless stated)

Pollok (a) Weds 10th Aug 6:45pm
Benburb (h) Sat 13th Aug
Neilston (h) Sat 20th Aug

Then the McBookie West Region Central 2nd Division starts and the Ants are at home to Gartcairn for their first ever visit to McKenna Park on the 27th of August 2016, again with a 2pm kick off. The other 3 scheduled league matches are below
Newmains (a) 3rd Sept
Vale of Leven (a) 10th Sept
East Kilbride (h) 17th Sept

It’s a new era down McKenna Park way so come along and get behind Ronnie and Tony as they look to get their Ants managerial career off to a flier!!

New fixutres announced

The Ants will face Vale of Clyde away this Saturday (9th April 2016) with a 2pm Kick Off, then we are at home to Johnstone Burgh on Saturday 16th April with a 2pm kick off, with the midweek matches starting with an 18:45pm kick off at home to Renfrew on Wednesday the 20th of April.

Come along and get behind James McKenna and the boys as we continue our quest to climb the league table

Entry £5 Adults – £2.50 Conc/OAP

Season tickets are valid for the home games

CMON THE ANTS!!