Glens squad is still a work in progress
But Willie happy with direction
Willie Harvey reckons his Glencairn squad for this season is still a work in progress.
Glens rounded off their sectional league cup campaign with a routine 4-0 victory over Vale of Clyde on Saturday.
That left them unbeaten after four games, but still second in the group behind Blantyre Vics.
While disappointed to not make the quarter-final stage, Willie was happy with the way things went as Glens get ready to kick off their league campaign this Saturday at Largs Thistle.
He said: “It’s still hard to tell where we are because we’re not quite back to full strength yet.
“We’re starting to see an improvement and that’s all you can ask for. With all the injuries and players away we’ve had we accepted the sectional was about keeping the players sharp and getting the game time and ready for Saturday, and if we won the section, then so be it.
“The result against East Kilbride was what ended our chances, but well done to Blantyre who got the job done.
“Boys are returning from holiday and the number of bodies at training is starting to go up.
“You’re disappointed to go out of any cup but we’ve had positives from this.
“On Saturday we had the likes of Mark Bishop back and it was another full, 90 minutes of competitive football under our belts.
“Last season we lost to Blantyre, Cambuslang and Vale of Clyde so that’s an improvement on last year right away.
“I don’t know how to explain it, there’s a lot of positives to take and we’re still unbeaten in competitive games.”
Willie hailed the win over Vale as Glens’ best performance of the season.
After opening with two draws, the Rutherglen men have now won their last two competitive games with a 3-1 friendly defeat at Larkhall last week the only blot on the copy book.
Willie said: “Vale is the best we’ve played so far.
“We looked a bit more like ourselves, we were just more up for the game.
“We’re starting to see the fitness levels coming back. I keep telling the players you can have the best team but if you aren’t fit you won’t win anything.
“It’s one thing people have complimented us on in the past. We want to get the levels up but it’s still a work in progress as we hope to hit the ground running against Largs on Saturday.”
Willie is also hoping to add a striker and defender to the squad in the next few days.
Both played as trialists at the weekend, with the forward notching two goals and both impressing. But some issues with registration need to be cleared up before they can make the move official.
Willie said: “They signed with an amateur club but they are still registered as professionals.
“I’m not sure how it works, but everything has been agreed and we should get the go ahead next week.”