Mark Pallo, of Rhino Pit, wrote the following article to appear on the Brotherly Game. Rhino Pit is an independent site that has covered the Rochester Rhinos since 1996.

The Rochester Rhinos are no strangers when it comes to competing against MLS clubs in U.S. Open Cup play. Their 1999 USOC title win over the Colorado Rapids is an accomplishment that still remains sweet and special within the Rochester soccer community.

That time of year when each paper has a riff on the same theme: "Hibs fans don't need reminding that it's been 110 years since their side won the Scottish Cup."
Well, no. We don't.
Yet everybody does remind us. Constantly.
The scraggy punchline of a 110 year joke. Mostly a joke that bludgeons you about the head with no attempt at subtlety.

"No, we're the underdogs."
Ayr v Kilmarnock. An Ayrshire derby in a league cup semi final and nobody wants to be favourites.
No surprise there. Derby games are different. Derby games in cups carry an extra weight. Make it a semi final and you've got a hell of a game on your hands.

A few drinks this evening and the chat got round to the Ayrshire derby being played out at Hampden tomorrow.
Ayr United v Kilmarnock.
An outing of Ayrshire's dirty linen at the national stadium. The Jerry Springer "I Married A Horse" episode writ large. An incestuous family feud settled in a national competition.

A few drinks this evening and the chat got round to the Ayrshire derby being played out at Hampden tomorrow.
Ayr United v Kilmarnock.
An outing of Ayrshire's dirty linen at the national stadium. The Jerry Springer "I Married A Horse" episode writ large. An incestuous family feud settled in a national competition.

Burnley, Liverpool, Celtic and Rangers target Mark Shankland

Burnley are giving a trial to Ayr United striker Mark Shankland, 16. He has already had a trial with Liverpool who are monitoring him, along with Celtic and Rangers.

View the full story here: The Mail

A news article on 2011-12-20 22:43:19 from: The Mail

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Photo all rights reserved by tbirdshockeyfan

Manchester United's long serving manager is considered to be one of the best in the world. He is at the helm since 1986, and presently has no signs of retiring.

Alexander Chapman "Alex" Ferguson currently has 12 Premier League championships, and helped beat Liverpool's 18 league championships in 2010-11 season.

Liverpool has been left disappointed by the news that Ayr United striker Mark Shankland has signed a two-year deal with the club.
The 15-year-old, the youngster player in the club's history, will make the step up to the Ayr first-team next season after spending last season in the club's youth academy.

The curtain comes down on domestic football for another season.
Yesterday's Scottish Cup will not perhaps be long remembered as a classic. Celtic too often seemed unable to click through the gears, that lent long periods of the game a scrappiness that seemed to offer Motherwell their best hope.

Having fallen into the football supporter's trap of self obsessed navel gazing it's time to redress the balance.
Amid the fun or pain to be had, depending on your persuasion, of watching Hibs suffer a massive, institutional mental breakdown, we shouldn't forget the role that Ayr United played last night.

Having fallen into the football supporter's trap of self obsessed navel gazing it's time to redress the balance.
Amid the fun or pain to be had, depending on your persuasion, of watching Hibs suffer a massive, institutional mental breakdown, we shouldn't forget the role that Ayr United played last night.

Ayr United v HibsThe Sky Sports cameras will be at Somerset Park tomorrow night. Not, I think, to savour the surroundings or in anticipation of a cracking game of football.
No. The Honest Men are hosting Sky because they scent an upset. The vultures are circling ready to feast on the corpse of Hibs' season.

Hibs v CelticThe ESPN juggernaut rolls into town to enliven an otherwise dull - and rather damp - Saturday lunchtime in Leith. I've been banging on all week about how bad Hibs were against Ayr United but I really can't stress enough the shortcomings of this squad.
Bill Belicheck, coach of Superbowl favorites New England Patriots, once said this about his philosophy:
"There's an old saying that the strength of the wolf is the pack.

When Ayr United took to the field dressed in black on Saturday, pessimistic Hibs fans might have felt that here was the Grim Reaper ready to finish off what was left of their miserable season.
Certainly Hibs started the game at a funereal pace that never threatened to enliven the 5000 or so home fans who had turned out.

Three days of Scottish Cup action to look forward to. Much talk of "cupsets" but probably not many actual upsets. And, I'd wager, a mention or two for Berwick Rangers, the most famous of Davids in Scottish football's gallery of Goliath-slayers.
Pitch inspections at a few of these games and snow falling as I write so things could be subject to change.