Glens assistant warns side are far from safe
Rutherglen Glencairn assistant Joe Pryce says they can’t count themselves out of the West of Scotland Football League Premier Division relegation race, despite a 2-1 win over Cumnock Juniors.
After a poor first half had Cumnock ahead through Greg Ferry’s strike, Glens fought back to win courtesy of Reece Pearson’s goal and an 88th minute Tommy Lone penalty.
While aware that his goalkeeper Matt McGinley allowed his side to go on and claim a vital three points, Pryce insisted that the second half display was so good, it merited victory.
He said: “It was a good result and a right good second half display. In the first half, we certainly weren’t at our best and Cumnock were better than us.
“We had our goalkeeper to thank for keeping us in the game. He made two or three really top saves. At half-time, we had a few words with the players and told them what is expected of them.
“To be fair to them in the second half, they went out and dominated the entire second half. On the second half performance alone, we deserved the three points.
“The players were still pushing forward late on to try and get the winner. We were the team who were trying to win the game. The lads deserved it as they kept pushing for it.
“They worked so hard for the winner and in the end they got their rewards. It’s a great three points for us.”
The Premier Division is tight at the minute, with places in the league sought after. Seven teams from the 20-team league will be relegated, so even midtable might not be enough to survive.
Rutherglen are in seventh and have games in hand on teams below them.
Pryce’s team could also begin to look up soon, sitting eight points outside the top four. But the Glens assistant manager says that all focus is going into the survival bid before anything else.
He explained: “That’s the way this league is. We are sitting seventh, but we know that we are certainly not safe yet. There’s still a long way to go.
“We just need to keep taking the things we are working on during training into matches on a Saturday. We’ll see where that takes us.”
Rutherglen are back in action this weekend in the WoSFL Strathclyde Demolition Cup quarter-final as they take on Neilston.
Pryce added: “It’s always tough up at Neilston so that will be a tough test for us. We’ll do what we have been doing in the build-up to this. We won’t change anything ahead of a really tough fixture.”