Arthurlie will be tough test, warns boss
Glencairn boss Willie Harvey has told his troops to hit the ground running in Saturday’s promotion crunch away to Arthurlie.
The Glens’ previous two games have been called off due to bad weather, with a waterlogged pitch wiping out last weekend’s match with Cumbernauld United.
And their return to action sees them travel to Dunterlie Park, where they will face a side sitting just one place below them in the league table.
Willie said: “It has been annoying the past couple of weeks, because it has been a stop-start scenario.
“You can get a bit rusty when something like that happens, although luckily we had the Glenafton game last week [in a friendly, which the Glens won 4-2] to keep things fresh, and we have nearly a full squad again.
“The only real injury is Kris Gebbie, because Stevie Kerr’s back training after his groin injury.
“We just have to make sure that we don’t start slowly on Saturday because we haven’t played in a couple of weeks.”
Bad weather has all but wiped out the Championship card the past two weeks, which means none of Glencairn’s promotion rivals have gained any ground on them.
The manager added: “At least other teams aren’t getting a march on us, because everyone is in the same spot. It’s a case of who comes out faster.”
The Glens are four points clear of Arthurlie, having played two games less than the Barrhead side.
However, Arthurlie come into the game in a rich vein of form, having won their last five matches, including thumpings of Girvan [7-1] and Dalry Thistle [8-1].
Their number includes former Glens midfielder Derek McNab, who has been in fine form for his new side – and has made it clear on social media that he would like to get one over his old teammates.
Willie noted: “Derek’s a good player and wanted to play every week, which we weren’t able to offer him – he was moaning about not getting a game each week so it made more sense for him to go elsewhere.
“I know he has been doing well there and saying a few things about Saturday, and it will be a tough test because they are playing very well.
“We beat them 2-0 earlier this season at our park, and they’ve added a couple of boys since then.
“But if we play as well as we did last week against Glenafton then we can be confident, as long as we don’t beat ourselves by making silly mistakes.
“If they beat us it has to be because they’ve been the better team, not because we’ve made too many mistakes.
“It’s coming to the business end of the season and all the teams around us are playing each other over the next few weeks, so we have the chance to stretch things a bit if we take care of things against the sides below us.”
The Glens boss was heartened by the display in last week’s friendly, as it gave several members of the squad a chance to shine.
He added: “We got some game time for a few boys who hadn’t been playing regularly like Harry Mitchell and Liam Gormley.
“They played well and it gave me some food for thought.”