Jags are back in the groove as gaffer targets friendly boost
East Kilbride Thistle boss Iain Diack says playing a friendly a g a i n s t B l a n t y r e Vi c s o n S aturday would provide a huge psyc hol ogi c al boost – because it will prove that football can return.
Diack says he has set himself a series of mini-targets this summer as he tries to get his players back into competitive action and says Saturday is a major step forward.
Bu t wi t h a p o t e nt i a l l o c a l i s e d lockdown looming in Lanarkshire, Diack isn’t taking anything for granted that the game will go ahead at the KG Stadium.
He told the News: “When we got started back I thought if we could get to the first friendly that would feel like we are actually getting somewhere, s o God wil l i ng we’l l get t here on Saturday.
“I think if we get the game played t h e r e w i l l b e a l o t o f o p t i mi s m throughout, that we can actually do this and get it back.
“Football won’t be the same for a while, but if we can get at least started it will be amazing.
“It will be a massive check-off on a box, and it will be excellent just to see the boys running about again, because our last game was at the end of February.
“You can train as much as you like but nothing compares to an actual game.
“It will be good just to see them enjoying it and we can then move forward to the next game with a bit of momentum.”
Diack hopes for six fr iendlies in total ahead of the West of Scotland League kick-off on October 10 and has four firmed up at this point.
He s ai d: “We’re hoping t o pl ay Blantyre Vics on Saturday, and with them being in the Premier League that’s a big game for us, a real test, which will show us where we are and where we want to go.
“On Friday night we’ll be playing the EKFC Development Squad, which is another tough game, and then we have one pencilled in against our own Colts, and against East Kilbride Under-19s, which gives us four at the moment.
“Ideally we would like six games, so we’re still looking for another couple.
“There are a couple that are in the pipeline, but nothing is confirmed so we’re just waiting on the final goahead and then we’ll try to fit those around everything else, but we don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves.”
Jags have been back training for two weeks and Diack has been pleased with what he has seen.
“It’s going well,” he said. “Numbers have been excellent, the boys have been working hard.
“There’s only so much you can gauge at t he minute, but t hey’ re looking okay, fitness is pretty good and we i ntroduced t he ball really early, so t hat t ype of sharpness i s coming along.
“What I got from the players from last year was that numbers at training were really poor – seven or eight and stuff like that – and we’ve had more than 16 this summer.
“You always get a couple who are working late and this level of football brings its own challenges, but the attitudes have been first-class.”