Preview FC Edinburgh
Saturday, 6th Aug 2022cinch League One (away) v FC Edinburgh, Saturday 6th August 2022, kick off 3.00pm at Meadowbank Stadium
Dunfermline’s first away fixture in League One is against the club that were promoted through the play offs from League Two. At that time they were known as Edinburgh City but in June when the SPFL issued the fixtures for this season, they revealed that the club would be known in future as FC Edinburgh.
The change of name was deemed necessary since the permission given in 1986 from the Edinburgh City social club to use the name was not sufficient and so they changed their name to the Football Club of Edinburgh.
This Saturday’s league match is just the third match between the clubs since 8th April 1939 when they played in the Second Division. The clubs played a total of ten matches in the Second Division during the 1930s. Dunfermline won eight, one was drawn and City won one.
The first league match since the 30’s comes after a Betfred Cup game at Ainslie Park on 20th July 2019 that Edinburgh City won 1-0 and a Scottish Cup Third Round tie on 24th January 1998 at East End Park that ended up Dunfermline 7 Edinburgh City 2.
Origins of FC Edinburgh
Founded in 1928, the original Edinburgh City adopted amateur status with the aim of becoming the capital’s equivalent of Queens Park.
Edinburgh City were members of the Scottish Football League between 1931 and 1949. They switched to junior status but ceased completely in 1955, when the local council refused to renew its lease on its home ground City Park.
A club called Postal United was founded in 1966 and joined the East of Scotland League. The Edinburgh City Football Club Ltd., which had continued trading as a social club since the football club stopped playing, gave their approval in 1986 for Postal United to use the Edinburgh City F.C. name.
The club has participated in the Scottish Cup since the mid-1990s and applied to join the Scottish Football League in 2002 but Gretna won the vote, and then after Gretna’s demise Edinburgh City applied again but lost out to Annan Athletic.
Edinburgh City became members of the Lowland League in 2013. They won the Lowland League title in both 2014–15 and 2015–16 and finally in May 2016 gained promotion to to the SPFL by defeating East Stirlingshire in a play-off with a penalty four minutes from time. Edinburgh City became the first non-league club to be promoted to the professional league.
Despite finishing 4th in League Two last season, Edinburgh City successfully came through the League One play-offs to earn promotion to the 3rd tier in Scottish football.
The homes of FC Edinburgh
The original club played its home matches at Powderhall Stadium and City Park during its time in the Scottish Football League. The present club initially played their home fixtures at the Saughton Enclosure, which is now home to Lothian Thistle before switching to Paties Road and then moved to City Park and then Fernieside.
Edinburgh City moved to Meadowbank Stadium which had been vacated by the move of Meadowbank Thistle to Livingston in 1996, and gained some additional supporters in Meadowbank fans who opted to continue watching a local side rather than the relocated team.
The City of Edinburgh Council’s redevelopment of the stadium meant Edinburgh City ground shared with Spartans at Ainslie Park for five season from 2017-2018. Dunfermline Athletic will be the opponents for the very first league match in the new Meadowbank Stadium.
Last Meeting
Betfred Cup, Saturday 20th July 2019
Edinburgh City 1 Dunfermline 0
Stevie Crawford resorted to the starting eleven that he fielded against St Mirren the previous Sunday. That meant the return of Andy Ryan and Josh Coley with Lewis McCann and Kyle Turner finding themselves on the bench.
City gave as good as they got and honours were even for most of the match. Dunfermline had their chances to score but in 87th minute the home side took one of their’s to register a win over their higher league opponents.
With a bit of luck from the break of the ball City sub Danny HANDLING latched on to a shot blocked by Ashcroft and from the left found the far side of the Pars net. 1-0
EDINBURGH CITY: Calum Antell: Craig Thomson (c), Conrad Balatoni, Liam Henderson, Robbie McIntyre: Allan Smith (Daniel Handling 62), Calum Crane, Mark Laird, Adam Watson (Josh Walker 75), Jonathan Court (Scott Shepherd 68), Alex Harris
SUBS NOT USED: Jordan Sinclair, Chris Kane, Regan Lumsden, Ryan Adamson (GK).
SCORERS: Handling (87)
DUNFERMLINE: Ryan Scully: Aaron Comrie, Stuart Morrison, Lee Ashcroft, Lewis Martin: Paul Paton (c): Ryan Dow, Tom Beadling (Gabby McGill 88), Josh Coley (Lewis McCann 73): Kevin Nisbet, Andy Ryan (Kyle Turner 56).
SUBS NOT USED: Paul Allan, Josh Edwards, Tom Lang, Cammy Gill (GK)
Last Six Matches
Last season Kelty Hearts finished top of League Two, 29 points ahead of the Edinburgh club who finished fourth. Managed by Alan Maybury, FC Edinburgh won their opening day match away to Kelty Hearts. In the Premier Sports Cup the Meadowbank side won one, drew one and lost two.
Dunfermline’s five competitive matches this season have brought three wins, one draw and one defeat.
DUNFERMLINE
Alloa Athletic (H) W 1-0
Alloa Athletic (H) D 1-1
Ross County (A) L 0-1
Buckie Thistle (H) W 5-0
East Fife (A) W 2-0
Kilmarnock (H) L 0-1
FC EDINBURGH
Kelty Hearts (A) W 2-0
St Mirren (A) L 1-3
Cowdenbeath (H) W 3-0
Arbroath (H) L 1-3
Airdrieonians (A) D 1-1
Caledonian Braves (A) L 0-1
League Record
DUNFERMLINE
Championship League Position: 9th
Championship League Points: 35
Goal Difference: -17
Away League Record: P18 W2 D6 L10 GF14 GA29
Last Six Match Form: LWWLDW
FC EDINBURGH
League Two Position: 4th
League Two Points: 52
Goal Difference: -6
Home League Record: P18 W7 D5 L6 GF23 GA25
Last Six Match Form: LDLWLW
Last time out
DUNFERMLINE (v Alloa Athletic): Deniz Mehmet: Aaron Comrie, Kyle Benedictus (c), Rhys Breen, Josh Edwards: Paul Allan: Kyle Macdonald, Matthew Todd, Joe Chalmers (Nikolay Todorov 63): Kevin O’Hara (Craig Wighton 63), Lewis McCann.
SUBS NOT USED: Miller Fenton, Jake Rennie, Michael Beagley, Sam Young, Andrew Tod, Max Little (GK)
FC EDINBURGH (v Kelty Hearts):
Robbie Mutch: McIntyre, Jack Brydon, Liam Fontaine: Emmanuel Johnson (Innes Murray 70), Calum Crane, Callum Tapping (Kyle Jacobs 10), Daniel Handling (Ouzy See 79), Kieran MacDonald, Ryan Shanley, John Robertson (Lee Hamilton 79).
SUBS NOT USED: Michael Travis, Ciaran Reid, Brian, Mark Docherty, Sam Ramsbottom (GK).
Other League One fixtures
Airdrieonians v Falkirk
Alloa Athletic v Kelty Hearts
Clyde v Peterhead
Montrose v Queen of the South
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