Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser

Home comfort key for Rovers

-

Albion Rovers boss Brian Kerr has called for his players to turn Cliftonhil­l into a fortress as they battle against the drop.

Last nights clash with Queen’s Park was the first of a run of five home games in a row for the Coatbridge outfit.

Despite early-season issues on their own patch, Kerr insists it has now come full circle for the side and believes they will be able to make the advantage count in the relegation run-in.

He told the Advertiser:“At the start of the season we were talking a lot about problems at home.

“We weren’t getting a lot of points at Cliftonhil­l, and all our best performanc­es seemed to be away from home.

“However, in previous weeks we have started to put in performanc­es at home and got some decent results.

“Over these five games we want to start putting some points and closing the gap on the teams in front of us - and maybe putting a bit of pressure on them.”

Rovers secured their first win of the year against Stranraer at Stair Park - thanks to a late Craig McLeish goal to secure the 3-2 win.

The result brought to the end a slump of 10 games without a win in all competitio­ns.

The visitors were two goals down at half-time but Kerr says he always believed they could get the crucial three points.

He hopes this now marks a turning point in their season with a number of key figures returning from injury.

“It’s been the story of our season. We start off well and then seem to find ourselves a couple of goals down,”the ex-Scotland cap continued.

“When we’re 2-0 down you think‘here we go again’but all credit to the boys they kept going.

“When we got the boys in at half-time they believed that they weren’t far off and showed a bit more spirit in the second half.

“It was a massive team effort and it was great to see the substitute­s contributi­ng.

“We have a bit more strength in depth thanks to players coming back from injuries. It’s a great time for them to come back for this run-in.”

He continued:“Our season really turned on the 5-4 defeat to East Fife. “It really knocked the stuffing out of us. “Stranraer is a tough place to go. The game was stuffy and we had to be patient.

“In the same way that the Fife game was a negative turning point for us, hopefully the Stranraer game can be a huge positive point in our season.”

 ??  ?? Home hope Brian Kerr at Cliftonhil­l
Home hope Brian Kerr at Cliftonhil­l

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom