Harvey’s men shape up and don’t ship goals

JONATHAN GEDDES

Glencairn boss Willie Harvey changed his side’s shape for the New Year – and was rewarded with a clean sheet against Largs Thistle.

After a terrible run of form that saw the Celsius Stadium side shipping goals, they switched to a 5-3-2 for the scoreless draw last weekend.

The Glens manager said: “We wanted to close up shop at the back and thought a change was needed.

“We have lost too many goals, and particularly too many goals early in the game, so this was to help us.

“It allowed the right back and left back to get forward too and it worked well.

“It took a bit of time for the players but as the game went on we felt quite confident and looked the tightest we’ve been in a while.

“They (Largs) didn’t have many chances. The midfield had to work a bit harder (as there was only three of them as opposed to four) but everyone put a good shift in.”

It could have been even better for the Glens, as striker Gary Smith missed a golden chance in the first half, while Dale Simeon’s header grazed the bar in the last minute.

Harvey added:“Gary’s should have been a goal every day of the week, so it was disappointing we didn’t score, but the big fella’s just back from injury.

“He’ll start taking those chances again soon.

“With the header in injury time, anyone but wee Dale could have scored that.

“He just didn’t have the height needed, although it was still a good effort to get it on target. We will take the positives from it

– it was only one point but we looked tight and tougher to break down.”

This Saturday the Glens face a rematch against Rossvale , who they lost to just a fortnight ago, as they begin a run of four home games on the bounce.

Harvey said:“We had a horrible start to that game, but we did have quite a few chances – even at 4-2 we had a few chances late on and if we’d taken one of them who knows what might have happened?”

Kick off at the Celsius Stadium this Saturday is 1.45pm.