Tweet treat as Ajax send their praise
Dutch masters Ajax showed a touch of class on Saturday night by congratulating East Kilbride on equaling their world record for successive wins.
Lowland League Kilby won their 26th game by coming from 2-1 down to beat Vale of Leithen 4-2 at K-Park.
And their winning run matches that of the famous Ajax side of 1971/72 when Johan Cruyff and Co inspired them to 26 straight victories across the league, cup and Europe.
Following Kilby’s win the official Ajax Twitter
Dundee gaffer Paul Hartley believes his pal Martin Lauchlan’s recruitment policy has been the key to Kilby’s world record equaling success at K-Park.
The former Celtic star, who lives a stone’s throw from East Kilbride’s home ground, has been friends with Lauchy since their school days and he’s been amazed by the Lowland League leaders’ winning streak.
So much so, in fact, he invited Lauchy to take in Dundee’s training session in the City of Discovery on Monday morning to see how a Premiership club operates.
Hartley has pointed to the calibre of Lauchlan’s signings, specifically Robbie Winters and Adam Strachan, as one of the main factors in Kilby’s success this season.
And the ex-Scotland midfielder reckons Lauchy has made significant progress since he led Junior side Rossvale to the 2014/15 Central District Second title, winning 15 out of 20 games, before joining EK.
Hartley told the News: “Martin’s only been a manager for a short period of time, so the success he’s had at both his clubs so far shows he’s doing something right.
“I’ve followed Martin since he was at Rossvale and since he took the reins at East Kilbride he’s continued to do well.
“The run they are on is remarkable and last week they even beat Cowdenbeath in the Scottish Cup.
“One of his real strong points is his player recruitment. I speak to him quite a lot and he’s page sent their message of support shortly after the final whistle.
They tweeted: “Great job guys! Well done! 26 wins in a row.”
The East Kilbride News story on Kilby’s incredible run has gone viral with newspapers and broadcast media around the world picking up on Kilby’s success, reaching as far as the Middle East on the beIN sports channel.
And this week the club have been inundated with media requests.
It doesn’t matter what level you are at, this kind of run is superb