The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Petrie urges players to take game ‘by scruff of the neck’
Montrose boss Stewart Petrie insists the time for hard-luck stories is over and his players need to kickstart their season, starting today against East Fife at Links Park, writes Neil Robertson.
The Gable Endies were defeated for the fourth game in a row last week, losing 2-0 to Championship outfit Partick Thistle in the Challenge Cup.
Of more pressing concern is the fact they are propping up League 1 with just a solitary point to their name.
Although Petrie acknowledged the game against Darren Young’s East Fife, who have won their last three matches will be far from easy, he is determined his team will return to winning ways.
He said: “Last week was always going to be difficult but the boys battled away fine and there were some good performances to take from the game.
“We can take encouragement from that into what will be a tough game against an East Fife team who are going great.
“Darren brought in some really good players in the summer with no expense spared there, so he is building a strong squad.
“I am expecting nothing other than a tough afternoon.
“But we can’t keep saying the same things about being a wee bit unlucky and breaks not going our way.
“It is time for some of the boys to step up and take the game by the scruff of the neck and hopefully kick-start our season against East Fife.”
Petrie reinforced his squad this week with the additions of two youngsters on loan – Cammy Ballantyne and Joel MacBeath, from St Johnstone and Ross County respectively.
The manager added: “We have freshened things up with the two new arrivals.
“We needed to reinforce after losing Padge (Paddy Cregg), a holding midfielder, so that’s Cammy’s position.
“Josh is a big striker, over six foot, and he will get us up the pitch.
“Hopefully the two of them will hit the ground running. It is never easy with young boys coming in, and we are not expecting too much from them. They are not the finished article so we will not be putting them under too much pressure to start with.”
Petrie has a full squad to choose from. Meanwhile, East Fife head north for a second week running with manager Darren Young determined that his side build on their win over Forfar by seeing off Montrose at Links Park.
Young’s side came from behind to win 2-1 at Station Park and the Locality Hub Bayview boss knows that only the same level of resilience and drive will net another three points.
He said: “We had a good trip to Angus last weekend and we will look to have a second one now.
“Montrose have strengthened their pool this week with a couple of loan signings coming in, and they also have a few boys back from injury now, so this will be a difficult game.
“They have done well under Stewart Petrie for a few seasons now and will be out to get away from the foot of the table so it will be tough. We showed a lot of qualities to see off Forfar and we will need all those qualities again to pick up another three points.”
Young added: “It was looking like it was going to be one of those days last Saturday. After a fairly even opening 10 to 15 minutes we were dominating the game. However, Forfar took the lead from their first shot at goal.
“We were still behind at the interval, but we stuck at things and turned the game around to make sure we got the result we deserved. It was great to get the three points against a side packed with good players, especially on their own patch.
“Moving to the top of the table was a bonus, and whilst it is great to be there, no one at the club will be getting carried away. There are 31 games to go and a lot can happen with injuries and suspensions, so we will enjoy it and try and make our spell there last as long as possible.”
“Winning this one keeps us there and that is the plan.”
The Fifers are without the injured Kyle Bell, Kevin Smith and Chris Duggan.