Kilby say they’ll take a leaf out of Celtic’s book

East Kilbride FC have now won more league games this season than they did in the entire 2015/16 campaign.

And Kilby boss Martin Lauchlan insists he’ll be taking a leaf out of Celtic gaffer Brendan Rodgers’book to keep his side top of the Lowland League.

A 4-1 win over nine-man Whitehill Welfare, EK’s 15th win in 16 league games, opened up a 10-point gap over nearest rivals East Stirling at the summit.

Last term Kilby managed just 14 wins in 28 games, while also drawing and losing seven.

As they go for win number 16 of this season at Hawick on Saturday, Lauchlan says his side will look to Celtic’s runaway success in the Scottish Premiership in their pursuit of league glory.

He told the News:“I’ve looked at Brendan Rodgers at Celtic and how he handles things, so I said to our players this week,“Do you think he looks behind him?” I don’t think so.

“He’ll focus on his own team and his own players – and that’s exactly what we’ll do.

“I’m not interested in the teams behind us and how many points off they are.

“We know if we keep winning games, the teams behind us don’t come into it, we’ve opened up such a gap.

“We know we’ve surpassed last season already in terms of wins and it shows you how far this club has come in a short time.

“There were a lot of draws last season and the job for (assistant boss) Carlo Girasoli and I when we came in was to turn those draws into wins. That’s exactly what we’ve done.

“We haven’t drawn a game yet and we’ve played 16 games.”

Asked what the difference has been this season, Lauchlan, who managed EK for their final five league games last season, said:“The team is a lot fitter than when we first came in and we are better organised defensively.

“We’ve brought in the right players in the right positions and the boys have really kicked on from there.”