Sports Mole previews Saturday’s Scottish League Cup clash between East Kilbride and Aberdeen, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
East Kilbride will be looking to recover from a comprehensive thrashing last time out when they welcome Aberdeen to the K-Park Training Academy on Saturday.
Aberdeen, on the other hand, set out to make it two wins from as many matches and maintain their 100% Scottish League Cup record.
Match preview
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Aberdeen eased past the challenge of Queen of The South en route to a comfortable 3-0 triumph in Saturday’s meeting at Palmerston Park.
A first-half double from Ester Sokler either side of Graeme Shinnie‘s strike saw Jimmy Thelin‘s men home and dry heading into the interval.
Consequently, The Dandies have moved up to second place in Group A of the League Cup, level on points with current leaders Airdrieonians.
Next up is the task of facing off against an opposing outfit who recently suffered relegation into the fifth tier of Scottish football.
Unbeaten in their last six away matches leading up to this weekend, Saturday’s visitors will be confident of getting the job done on enemy territory once again.
After a penalty-shootout victory in their opening cup involvement, East Kilbride were on the receiving end of an 8-0 mauling against Airdrieonians.
Ben Wilson and Lewis McGregor led the assault on Michael Kennedy‘s men with three goals apiece and were joined on the score sheet by Rhys Armstrong and Mason Hancock.
With two points on the board from two matches so far, The Kilby sit bottom but one in Group A despite having played the joint-most games.
Having seen their most recent three home matches produce a combined 15 goals, Saturday’s hosts will be gearing themselves up for another riveting affair in front of their fans.
East Kilbride Scottish League Cup form:
East Kilbride form (all competitions):
Aberdeen Scottish League Cup form:
Aberdeen form (all competitions):
Team News
Adam Livingstone had a game to forget against Airdrieonians, and he is expected to yield his place in the starting XI as a result.
Defender Jordan McGregor missed his side’s last outing with a muscle problem which will keep him out of this weekend’s contest as well.
Aberdeen’s Ester Sokler has found the back of the net four times in his last six outings, making the Slovenian one to keep an eye on here.
Eighteen-year-old Finlay Murray recently completed a move to Cove Rangers and will not play any part for the visitors in this one.
East Kilbride possible starting lineup:
Wilson; Lockie, Fagan, McDonald, Ferguson; Stirling, Spence, Balde; Watson, Robertson, Biggar
Aberdeen possible starting lineup:
Mitov; MacKenzie, Molloy, Rubezic, Devlin; Nilsen, Morris; McGrath, Shinnie, Clarkson; Sokler
We say: East Kilbride 1-5 Aberdeen
Aberdeen are the significantly stronger team and the onus will be on them to display their gulf in class. We fully expect them to run riot and claim a commanding win in the end.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.