Glens boss looking for sweet revenge
Harvey still hurting over 3-2 defeat at Yoker
Rutherglen Glencairn gaffer Willie Harvey is expecting a tough test this weekend as his side take on a team in similar form.
Yoker Athletic sit three points ahead of The Glens with a game in hand going into the first competitive match of the new year.
Steven Reilly’s men ran out 3-2 winners when the sides last met at Holm Park in November.
But The Celsius Stadium outfit are keen to put one over the Whe Ho, who have won three of their last five games, when they visit Rutherglen on Saturday afternoon.
Harvey said: “Yoker turned us over 3-2 but it was one of those games we thought we should have got something out of.
“They are a hard-working team so there will be a contrast of styles when we play them on Saturday. We’ll try to play our game on the deck on a good surface.
“The park is in good condition, considering all the rain we’ve been having, and if there was a game on last Saturday then it would have been on. But that’s just testament to the hard work that goes into the park.”
Glencairn prepared for Yoker’s visit with a friendly match with Greenock Juniors on Thursday and will get another run-out tonight (Wednesday) against Super Premier Division side Pollok.
In what was a match primarily to give the players game time over the winter break, manager Harvey was still looking for a positive performance from his men.
However, despite having gone 2-0 up at half-time at Toryglen last week, Greenock fought back to score three times in the second half to win the game.
Harvey said: “With no disrespect to Greenock, we should be beating teams like that when you’re 2-0 up at half-time. We were looking to go on to score four or five.
“We play against Pollok in the next game and we won’t be able to do that to them. “It was beneficial in the fact it got the players a runout over Christmas but it was a very poor second-half performance.
“It was a poor performance from the referee as well but it wasn’t because of him that we lost the game.
“We scored in the first couple of minutes and after that we settled into the game. The first five or 10 minutes we had good passing and movement.
“But then we started playing the longball game and that’s just not our style of play. After that we started to play and got the second goal and went into half-time 2-0 up.
“I didn’t feel there was any way we would lose the game after that. We made a bundle of substitutes, including two under-21s who we threw in with the first team.
“They did okay but the second- half performance from us was very poor.
“I don’t know what happened. It’s as if they couldn’t be bothered any more.”
Tonight’s match at Toryglen Regional Football Centre kicks off at 8pm. Saturday’s league match with Yoker has a 1.45pm start.