Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Rovers win first friendly
Albion Rovers ....... 2 Clyde..................... 1 Brian Kerr heaped praise on his Albion Rovers players after their first friendly run-out of the season against Clyde.
Rovers welcomed the Bully Wee to Cliftonhill and a goal from new striker Joao Victoria in either half cancelled out a strike from David Goodwillie.
However, it was some of the young players on show that caught the eyes of the gaffer.
He told the Advertiser:“The most important thing for us is to keep the fitness levels up.
“We are still minus a couple of big players but that gave us the chance to have a look at some of the younger players we have here.
“It was good to give them that experience and see how they played on a match day.
“Daniel Lightbody played the full 90 minutes for us in defence and he did a great job.
“He was very impressive and has cemented himself in my plans. If he keeps that level of performance up I could see him as the first choice centre-back.
“Boys like Ryan McManus and Connor Shields came into the team towards the end of last season and played well again.
“They showed that they can play against a decent pedigree of player.”
Kerr was encouraged by the high standards he saw on show this early in the season.
“It was promising to see that the level of quality was there.
“It’s never easy to have that first game back and at times it was a bit sluggish - but you expect that.
“You want to see the players get that bit of match sharpness back after the summer, and I felt we did that.
“I think we played the game slightly differently from what we had done last season, and hopefully fans noticed that to.
“We are trying to play a passing game and develop out own style of play.
“The likes of Ross Davidson, Graeme Holmes and Gary Fisher are going to be huge for us and will give us a really good engine.”
Kerr added that he was still on the look-out for new players, but was happy with the core of the squad. “I’m looking at one or two positions. “I think we will have a couple of new players in by the start of the season, but we have to wait and see on a couple of offers.”