Peeblesshire News | Sport | Tributes to Leithen Rovers stalwart Duncan Smith

Thursday, 20th November, 2008

Published: Friday, 29th August, 2008 12:30

Tributes to Leithen Rovers stalwart Duncan Smith

By David O'Leary

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Tributes have poured in this week following the tragic death of Leithen Rovers FC stalwart Duncan Smith.

The popular football fanatic was killed following a road traffic accident near his hometown of Biggar last Wednesday.

Duncan was to start his 12th season with the Innerleithen club as linesman, bottle man and any other job that needed doing on a Saturday afternoon.

Everyone at the club including new manager, Neil Gilchrist, has been hit by his untimely passing. Gilchrist returns for a second spell at the club after previously managing them between 2002-2005.

He said: “Duncan is a great loss to the club and it will be a sad start to the season. There will be a minute’s silence before our season opener on Saturday against Langholm in memory of him. I’m sure that Duncan will be there cheering us on, he was a fantastic servant to the club.

Club Captain, Andrew Lawrie, who used to travel to the games with Duncan, echoed this sentiment. He said: “There will be a big gap on the sidelines on Saturday and hopefully we can get the win for him.

Former manager, Alan Notman, who led the club to a treble in 2006, also offered a tribute.

He said: “Duncan played a big part in us winning the treble that year and he will be sorely missed. He was a great guy.”

The Innerleithen side hope to push for silverware this year as a fitting tribute to Duncan.

Neil Gilchrist said: “We’ve got a good mixture of experienced and young players so we’ll be looking to build on last years fifth place.

“We’ve had a great pre-season, winning all our games and scoring plenty of goals. Having Colin Smith back from Vale of Leithen will help us alot in the centre of midfield and up front, Alan McMath and Gary Hastie, should get us some goals.

“Hopefully Andrew Lawrie will get his hands on some more silverware this year.”

Other local sides will also be looking to improve on last season. After finishing sixth last year, Peebles Amateurs kick off away to Kelso Thistle. While, Tweeddale Rovers, kick off at home to Gala United at Cerfield, after finishing sixth last season.

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