Watsonians hope Kyle Whyte will be lucky charm

“We were very disappointed with the performance against Heriot’s and the guys want to put things right against Hawick,” said Sonians coach Marcus Di Rollo.

The victory over Sonians capped an upturn in fortunes that has steered Heriot’s into the top four and they will be looking to maintain that momentum when they travel to face Ayr in a rerun of last season’s play-off final.

Harry Boisseau, Charlie Simpson and Martin Bouab are not available, but Struan Cessford returns to a squad that also features Edinburgh professionals Glenn Bryce and George Turner.

“We return to the scene of our league final victory in good heart after a couple of strong performances,” said Heriot’s coach Phil Smith. “However, at the same time Ayr have really retuned to form with a bang.”

Heriot’s are to compete in the inaugural Italian-Scottish Challenge, a two-legged tie with Italy Emerging, a team made up of players from Italy’s domestic competition, the National Championship, known as the Eccellenza.

The first leg will take place on Friday in Biella near Turin with the return leg at Goldenacre on Saturday, November 19.

Currie lsot to Ayr last Saturday tomorrow face a Gala side that took the honours in the reverse fixture in September.

Currie coach Ben Cairns, who has Jamie Forbes back at stand-off where he partners Charlie Shiel, said: “A very disappointing first half versus Ayr left us with too much to do. However, we can take a lot of confidence from the way we played to get back into the match in the second half.

“This will be the level we look to produce for 80 minutes this weekend against a very good Gala side,” said Cairns.

Meanwhile, Boroughmuir travel to meet Stirling County in match that is crucial to the Meggetland side’s bid to escape the bottom two in the table.

Muir will also want a win to mark the final appearance for the club of Andy Rose, the Zimbabwean internationalist, whose outstanding contribution over recent years included captaining the side to Scottish cup glory.

Muir coach Peter Wright is demanding more from his men, saying: “After a decent first half last week against Melrose, we were really disappointed with how we played in the second half.

“We know we must up the standard of play to get close to a result against Stirling.”