SLOW START HAS COST US
Glencairn boss bemoans team’s early season form
Gutted Glencairn boss Willie Harvey reckons his side need to cut out their slow starts if they ever want to achieve promotion.
The Glens saw their dreams of reaching the top flight of Junior football killed off after a 1-0 defeat to Irvine Meadow XI last Saturday.
However, while the Glens gaffer admitted that his side “didn’t turn up on the day”, he feels their promotion push was lost earlier in the season.
He said: “It was a really disappointing performance on Saturday, but I said to the lads afterwards that one game wasn’t what cost us this year.
“We dropped too many stupid points, particularly early on. Then there was recent games like Larkhall, when we were 2-0 up and didn’t win, or Kello, where we missed an unbelievable amount of chances. That is what has cost us – win those two games and we are promoted.
“We are notoriously slow starters and we need to improve on that next season.
“We have taken 27 points from a possible 39, we have twice beaten Petershill, who won the league, and over the past couple of years we have just missed out on promotion by a few points. Everybody was hurting afterwards. ”
Willie had no complaints about the 1-0 defeat which saw the Glens go down to a second-half Ben Carson goal.
He said: “We picked the wrong day not to show up. We had been superb against Troon [the previous weekend when they won 4-0] but we didn’t perform and you just have to take it on the chin.
“The only players that would get pass marks are the defenders because they held up against Irvine Meadow’s style of play well.
“We lost the goal because of a stupid mistake but played well defensively other than that.
“The problem was that we didn’t create anything at all. That’s not just on the strikers for not making anything happen, as there was nothing coming from midfield too.
“Their goalkeeper had the easiest Saturday that any goalkeeper has ever had in football.”
The one bright spot on the day was the healthy attendance, with local people getting behind their team
Willie added: “That was brilliant to see and we’d like to thank everyone who came out to see us. Hopefully some of them will be back next season.”
Now Willie is hoping the players can rebound for Saturday’s cup quarter-final against Wishaw or Pollok.
He said: “We’ve told the players to get their heads up and try to enjoy Saturday.”