St Andrews United aiming to improve and entertain

St Andrews Utd go on the attack during their friendly with Dunbar. Pic B Smith.

United flirted with promotion from their East of Scotland conference last term, but ran out of steam towards the end.

The club’s vice chair, Blair Smith, concedes too many points were tossed away, but reckons the club will still be better for the experience.

He said: “Last season, we ended up mid-table in a very competitive league which included some excellent teams.

“Although that was a creditable position, the season’s end was something of an anti-climax as we had been pushing for promotion after a good run of results at the beginning of 2019.

“Sadly, we slipped up on too many banana skins, losing points that we could not afford, and paid the price.”

Andy Brown has freshened his squad up with the addition of a couple of new faces - but worked hard towards the end of last season to keep hold of the players he wanted.

Mr Smith said further business was likely at Barnetts Park before the competitive campaign starts.

“For this coming season, we have bid farewell to some really good players, but are also welcoming some new exciting talent,” he said.

“The final squad list remains to be settled, with some important discussions still underway, and we need to make at least two more crucial signings.

“We are confident we will have an excellent squad finalised in time for the season’s kick-off on July 27 - fully fit and raring to go.

Our goal will be to finish in the top two of our East of Scotland Football League, 1st Division (Conference A), with a shot at promotion to the Premier League.

“We are also continuing our efforts to gain an SFA License, with only a set of floodlights standing in the way of this step up.

“Finally and most importantly, we aim to entertain our supporters, giving them plenty of good football and a team to be proud of. We are fortunate in having an excellent manager (Andy Brown), assistant manager (Charlie King) and coaching team.”