Pete ready to take the heat in Nock hot seat
ABAPTISM of fire awaits Peter Leonard after his confirmation at the weekend as the new manager of Cumnock.
Taking up the task of reviving fortunes at the Super Premier Division bottom markers was always going to be a big challenge but the road back to the top for the highly-regarded Leonard has been made steeper by Nock’s arch rivals Auchinleck Talbot providing the opposition in his first game in charge.
And further tests of the ex-St Mirren and Motherwell striker’s resolve are coming thick and fast with a Scottish Junior Cup second round tie away to in-form Ayrshire District League frontrunners Craigmark next up on Cumnock’s agenda followed by an intriguing head to head with his former club Girvan back at Hamilton Park.
Last night Leonard said: “The game at Auchinleck will be one to savour and we will look to do well but my appointment here along with Chris Flanagan and Gerry Philips is all about achieving the targets we have set ourselves – not just one, two or three games.
“There’s no escaping the fact it’s an extremely tough start but if I remember right the previous manager John McKeown also kicked off with a derby game and he didn’t do all that badly in his three years at Townhead Park.
“I am looking no further forward than getting to meet the players when taking our first training session tomorrow night and I cannot wait if truth be told.
“They are not all strangers as I worked with Stevie “Dingus” Crawford during my coaching stint with Ayr United Youths as well as Darren Johnstone.
“Probably the toughest part of the job as Cumnock manager is to manage expectation levels but Chris, Gerry and I have all been around the block a few times and we are not running scared.”
LEONARD’S departure from Girvan is thought to have been sorely felt after his eventful three years at the helm, where he took the side from bottom of the pile to back-toback, title-winning seasons that culminated in him leading the remote South Ayrshire outfit into the West Region top flight where they currently sit ninth in the table.
Leonard added: “I absolutely loved my time at Girvan and all the success we achieved there is down to the players.
“The only downside was the club’s l ocation making it difficult to attract top players – that’s one of the reasons I felt it right to have a shot at the Cumnock job.”
Junior internationalist midfielder Paul Burns is a likely nonstarter against Talbot after picking up a calf muscle injury in the Umbro Quadrangular Tournament and Leonard is also resigned to being without Adam Hunter and Del Esplin.
He added: “In an ideal world we’d have liked to have a full strength squad, however there is a more than decent pool of players to choose from so I’d like to think we can replace the guys who are missing.”