EK ARE UP FOR THE CUP
Malcolm eyes win over former player to kick-start their season
Stuart Malcolm is hoping a Scottish Cup win over one of his former players can kick-start East Kilbride’s faltering season.
Chris Humphrey – a title winner with Kilby last season – is now manager at Lowland League rivals Gretna and the Anvils come calling on Saturday looking to inflict more misery on Malcolm.
The defending Lowland League champions are 11 points off the pace in the title race, but Malcolm hopes a Scottish Cup run can help bring a change in fortunes for the club, who have won once in their last three outings.
As EK toil at the top end of the table, Gretna are battling it out at the bottom.
They prop up the Lowland League with two points from nine games and Malcolm admits both sides will be desperate to get a result.
The Kilby boss said: “We are in a sticky spell right now and so are Gretna, so on paper it looks like being a good contest.
“Both teams are looking for something to propel their season.
“I’ve not seen too much of Gretna, but from what I hear Chris is a very good coach.
“He’ll have his own ideas and his own style and he’ll be looking for a result as well.”
Kilby, who eased past Easthouses Lily 4-0 in the South Challenge Cup at the weekend, enter the Scottish Cup at the second round stage thanks to their title win last season.
Gretna, meanwhile, edged past Hill of Beath 1-0 in round one.
Malcolm, who led EK to a fourth round tie with Inverness last season, added: “For us, Saturday is going to be a tougher game
than Easthouses Lily.
“The challenge now is to find the same kind of performance against a higher level of opponent.
“We are needing a run of results and I still believe we can assert ourselves in the league. But this week is about the cup and we want a good run in that to give us the impetus going forward.
“It’s taken us a while to get up to speed, but a good run of results can get us going.”
Last week, Malcolm was given a vote of confidence by club owner Paul Kean, who backed him to turn things around.
Asked if he had be reassured by that statement, Malcolm said: “I didn’t expect anything different. The club have backed me since I came in and, although it’s been an indifferent start, we’ll continue to work our socks off and push to make a difference for this club.”