FAMILY loyalty within the Philp clan looks set to be tested this weekend when Kelty Hearts and the Pars go head-to-head.

In the maroon corner, New Central Park stalwart Ross will be seeking to help his side to their first points of the season, and revealed his grandad is likely to be rooting against them on the opposite side.

Saturday is set to be a special day for everyone connected to Kelty, with Philp himself scarcely able to believe that they will go head-to-head with Dunfermline in a competitive league match for what will be the first time.

The 30-year-old, whose day job is as a PE teacher at Woodmill High School, returned to the club in 2017 after ending a two-year spell in 2014 to join Bo'ness United, with whom he spent three seasons.

Philp has been with Kelty during their days as a junior side, competing in the East Region Super League, and has been a prominent fixture in winning the East of Scotland League, Lowland League, and League Two last season.

He has been a key player under managers such as Thomas Courts, Barry Ferguson and Kevin Thomson, the latter for whom he played 42 times in all competitions last season, and has played in all but one of John Potter's competitive games in charge so far.

Despite starting the season with three defeats from three so far, Philp is relishing the chance to test himself against the team he used to go and watch – even if he reckons his grandad, Robbie, who is a season ticket-holder at East End and a member of the Kincardine Pars Supporters Club, will be hoping he's on the losing side.

"He'll probably be hoping for a Dunfermline win, and me playing alright would probably suit him, whereas I'm wanting the opposite!" Ross, who hails from Valleyfield, told Press Sport following Saturday's defeat to Clyde.

"I went to watch Dunfermline basically until I played on a Saturday. My granda still goes every week; he'll be in the Dunfermline end next week. He wasn't coming in the Kelty end!

"He said, 'I'll not get in the seated bit, eh, because it's the Kelty end?' I said, 'Aye, but you could always sit there.' 'Nah, I'll not be there, I'm going to stand with the Dunfermline fans!' You can't do any more!

"It's one that I was looking forward to. I'm back at work on Monday, and the amount of ones at the school that go and watch Dunfermline gives that wee bit extra to it as well. You couldn't write it; that first week back, and then it's that game on a Saturday!

"It's going to be busy, it's going to be a good crowd. It's good for the town really, and it's one I've personally been looking forward to.

"Even Fozzy (Jordon Forster) was saying there that, when you speak to folk now, it's like, 'Oh, you haven't started very well', and stuff. It is hard, because we need to get ourselves going, but it would be a good game to get us started."

The Pars make the short trip to Kelty on the back of three wins from three, and sit at the League One summit with the division's only perfect record.

Philp and his team-mates are at the opposite end, still waiting for their first point, after Saturday's defeat at Clyde, in which they lost three second-half goals after dominating the first 45 minutes.

"I think the way that they'll probably expect the game to go is that they'll look to dominate the ball which, in games where we've maybe had that against better teams, we've always done well," he continued.

"If that's the way the game pans out, it might actually suit us, but we'll still be going there to try and control the ball, and possession as well.

"I think the fact that they've started well, and we've not started well, there's maybe a wee bit less expectation on our side which, again, might help us in that sense in terms of that the pressure's maybe on them.

"There'll be big numbers (in the crowd) with them. It is another one of those ones as well where, if we're not going to get the first goal, we need to keep the game at nil-nil for as long as possible and maybe be a wee bit more controlled in terms of what we're doing, and maybe not be as gung-ho towards the end of the game, which is what we've been like for the last couple of weeks."

When asked if the banter with some of his Pars-supporting pupils would pick up this week, he joked: "I'll just need stay away from them and, hopefully, I can go in next Monday after we've beaten them and say right, there you go!

"It's like that all the time. Even if it's not Dunfermline we're playing, they keep a keen eye, they're always interested. It's good, it gives a wee bit interest for them as well. We'll see what happens."