Patterson admits Peasy are miles away from last term
THIS is not a good time for Petershill to be Newlandsfield bound for a city derby with Pollok after travelling down to Valefield last weekend to lose 2-1 to Kilbirnie Ladeside with a quite sorry performance.
Management duo Willie Patterson and Paul Kelly were shuffling their severely limited deck – crucially minus both Alex Cassells and goalkeeper John Gibson who quit the Springburn club this season – in seeking to come up with an improved hand.
But their best efforts were in vain and little wonder given Jordan Murch & Co appear to be sadly lacking in confidence.
Making that point to long serving gaffer Patterson evoked a defiant defence of his playing charges.
He said: “It’s not a million miles off the mark to say we bear little resemblance to the team we were this time last year.
“Our troubles started with Cumbernauld United enticing away striker Scott McManus despite our best attempts to keep him and next to ship out was Gibson before Cassells, Jason Hardie, Craig Connolly, Steffan Graham and Chris Hall decided to walk away from the club for reasons best known to themselves. And this exodus is now up to eight players following last weekend’s game because Dylan Kennedy did not take kindly to being named as a substitute against Kilbirnie and has said he will not be coming back.
“Unhappy players were nowhere to be seem last season when we were winning games however the mood in the camp has definitely changed since we stepped up.”
Only eight points separate the Premiership pair, leaving the Southside giants in seventh place while the Peasy are down in second bottom.
However most people would reckon there’s a yawning gap in quality in depth of the respective playing squads.
And newly installed Lok boss Murdie McKinnon persuading errant striker Stefan McLuskey to make a return gives more credence to this notion. He said: “Bringing Stefan back into the fold was a no-brainer once he expressed a desire to play for this club.
“It was clear he wanted nothing more than to put everything behind him and knuckle down to show he deserves a Pollok starting jersey .
“He’s not a shoo-in to start up front tomorrow because Stuart McCann is also back in training.”