Premier Sports Cup Group Stages

Take it this is the League cup's new name/sponsor. Draw is taking place tomorrow.

Premier Sports Cup 2021/22 dates

Group stage
MD1: Weekend of July 10/11
MD2: Midweek of July 13/14
MD3: Weekend of July 17/18
MD4: Midweek of July 20/21
MD5: Weekend of July 24/25

Second round
Weekend of August 14/15

Quarter-finals
Midweek of September 21-23

Semi-finals
Weekend of November 20/21

Final
Sunday December 19

There it is then, piss easy group by the looks of it, only Raith should trouble us, but as ever, can't take teams for granted, always the chance of an upset if we're not on it. Seems we can't get away from Raith in these Group stages, thinks this is the 3rd season running we've got them, so far they've been home draws for us though, might be due an away one this time and it'll be a tricky one.

Oh and Raith are after Robbo, so that could make things interesting for us, he was a right thorn in our side when he played for East Fife against us.

That would be a bit of a step down for him though. He can clearly do a job in the top tier but if Raith are his best offer it would seem a strange one.

Group should be straightforward, the worst two sides in the entire SPFL last season & another that was relegated. That said, we have no idea what our new first team is going to look like yet so it’s hard to judge what we’ll do.

Just looking back and it was the Scottish cup we got Raith at home last season and the season before, not the Betfred LC. Got Alloa again though, and they've dropped down a league, so shouldn't be a problem winning that game, and Brechin should be a piece of pish.

I remember someone saying a Brechin fan had a pop at them after we got promoted winning League One, saying we'll be straight back down next season. Turned out Brechin also got promoted into the Championship, through the play offs, didn't win a single game and went straight back down, Livi won the play offs into the Premiership. Since then we've got back to back top 6 places and they've dropped out of the SPFL leagues. Aint it funny how much of a GIRFUY to that Brechin fan this is.

Pre season games all done and dusted, scored 12, and we didn't concede a single goal. It all went rather swimmingly.

Good 2 games just played at the TMA too, against East Stirlingshire and Arbroath, the kind of level we'll be facing in the cup games, setting us up nicely for our game against Brechin.

We have done well in this comp, from playing in League One, to Championship, and now Premiership, we've topped the group every time, i think it is a combination on our style of play, and experience of having come through the lower leagues, we don't get complacent and caught out against lower league teams now. Our quality of player has also gone up a few notches too, and ones we had from those days have improved with the experience of playing at a higher level.

Basically what i'm saying is we're gonna skoosh it again and get to another final.

That’s a very conservative forecast… if you were as optimistic as you usually are you’d have added “and win it this time”

I'm leaving something for the final, don't want to go off full cock before we get there, and have nothing left for the cup final match thread.