Do us a favour, Shire
Craig Malcolm hopes East Stirlingshire can do East Kilbride a favour for the second time in as many weeks to help them lift the Lowland League trophy.
Shire boosted Kilby’s title hopes just under a fortnight ago when they bagged a last-gasp equaliser against league leaders Spartans to ensure the gap at the top of the table was just one point instead of three.
And going into the final two games of the season, East Kilbride now need a little help from their rivals once again.
On Saturday, Shire – who finished runners-up to EK last season – travel to Spartans on the final day of the campaign on the back of an 18-game unbeaten run.
And if, as expected, EK and Spartans win their respective matches against Whitehill Welfare and Dalbeattie on Wednesday night, Kilby must hope they beat Stirling University in the final game and hope Shire take something at Ainslie Park if they are to retain their trophy.
Malcolm said:“We hope East Stirling can do us a favour. They managed it a couple of weeks ago when they got a draw and we hope they can do it again.
“They have been on a really good run and we have to believe they will get something, otherwise there is no point going into that final game.
“We know East Stirling are more than capable of beating Spartans, never mind drawing with them, but it’s important we take care of ourselves.
“If we win our games, we’ve done our bit and that’s all we can do.
“We must focus on our own game and not get distracted by what’s going on elsewhere.
“To end up drawing the final game and then hearing Spartans have slipped up as well, that would be terrible so it’s important we do our bit and at least we know we’ve given it everything.
“If Spartans win theirs as well, you just have to accept it and say well done.”
Malcolm scored the only goal in Friday night’s win over BSC Glasgow to take them back to the top of the table for a matter of hours.
Spartans beat Gretna 3-0 on Saturday to return to the summit and they haven’t lost a game since Kilby beat them 2-0 at home in February.
Both of the league’s top two are on nine-gameunbeaten runs and Malcolm, who joined on loan from Alloa in January, admits missing out on the title is unthinkable.
He added:“It would be a nightmare if we didn’t manage to do it.
“Since I came to the club in January, we’ve won every game so if we come up short we know it’s probably the start to the season that will have cost us.
“The boys are desperate to go one better than last season. After the disappointment they had in the League Two play-offs, they want to make up for it but there is a lot of work to be done to get to that stage.”