Lang are prepared for the big kick-off
Spirit can boost ravaged side
Cambuslang Rangers comanager John Doyle is desperate for the league season to get underway.
John, with co-manager Paddy Flannery, was disappointed that their new- look side finished bottom of their sectional league cup group, losing all four of their games.
But he believes the side’s spirit can be the key to getting them back to winning ways.
John said: “The performance against Vale of Clyde was okay, up to a point, but in the second half we were poor.
“Against East Kilbride Thistle, they were the hungrier side. We didn’t show a great deal of fight. They had several players who were playing against us for the first time since leaving, and wanted it more than we did.
“It’s been a nightmare, as we desperately want to get out there and get our first competitive win.
“The league is about to start, so we begin with a blank slate. The guys are working very hard in training, and the spirit is great off the park, but what we need to do is transform that into results and spirit on the park.
“I think we’ve been a bit unlucky with some refereeing decisions, and they’ve gone in favour of other teams who have gone on to score, but we’ve not had a settled back four or midfield, and hopefully when we can get that, there will be a big change.”
The Lang have scored seven goals in their cup campaign - the same or more than other teams that have qualified - which John believes bodes well for them.
He explained: “We’ve got good players up front who can score goals. We’ve been averaging about two goals a game in preseason, including the cup, but unfortunately we’ve been losing three on average.
“Going forward, we’ve been showing that we can play good football, but defensively we know we have to sort it out, sooner rather than later.”
The Lang hope that they can get some consistency in their team selection soon, after losing players for various reasons.
John said: “After we lost the first two games, the next two effectively became an extension of the preseason friendlies. Right now, all we want to do is get into the league and start afresh.
“For the last few weeks, with all the players we’ve had missing, we’ve been constantly chopping and changing, when all we want to have is a settled squad.
“We’ve still got quite a few niggles, but we’re pleased that our captain Chris Hamilton is reponding well to treatment.
“He’s going to be back earlier than we expected, and we’ll see him back in action in the next two weeks or so. Hopefully, we can start getting our players back into the frame, but we’ll still be missing quite a few guys.
“The frustrating thing is we had everybody together at the start of pre-season, when we were trying out things, but with the summer holidays, injuries and people working, we’ve not been able to get our strongest side out on the pitch yet.”