NO ROOM FOR ERROR AT EK
Kilby gaffer wants a fast start at Stirling Uni
East Kilbride boss Stevie Ait ken i nsi s t s t hey wil l need to be at their best t h i s we e ke n d t o make sure his reign starts with a victory.
Kilby kick-off t he new campaign away t o University of Stirling on Saturday and the eyes of the league will be on the Forthbank Stadium to see how the big-spending side perform in their first competitive outing.
With t he l i kes of ex- Par t i ck Thistle star Chris Erskine and former Rangers midfielder Kyle Hutton joining the ranks, expectation is high for the twot i me L owl a nd c ha mpions a s they bid to wrestle the title from holders Kelty Hearts.
The Students have stung Kilby before and Aitken knows there’s n o r o o m f o r e r r o r t h i s t i me around.
He said: “We want to start on the front foot, but we know teams will be out to play well against us.
“They’ve seen the recruitment we’ve done in the summer and we know Sti r l i ng Uni are well organised and they will be a fit team.
“They’ve caused East Kilbride problems before, so we need to make sure we are at our best.”
EK will be without a handful of key players for the clash with
Sean Winter, Ricky Miller, Steven Old and Daryl Healy all ruled out.
Aitken added: “We’ve picked up a few knock in pre-season, which we didn’t want, but these things happen.
“We’ve got guys like Ricky and Steven who haven’t trained for weeks, but the players are excited and we’ve trained well this week.”
Ai t k e n’s brot her Chr i s a nd R a n g e r s l e g e n d I a n Dur r a nt c omplete t he Ki l by c oaching t eam and t he younger Aitken sibling is relishing their dugout debuts in the Lowland League.
Chris said: “It ’s been a l ong time coming for us all and the b o y s c a n ’ t wa i t t o p l a y r e a l football and get back to the nitty gritty. You’ve got to get off to a good start and we are well aware of that.”
How e v e r, t h e Ki l b y c o a c h admits he is prepared for clubs to have a real go and wouldn’t be surprised if there were some shocks along the way.
He added: “With the players we’ve signed, there’s going to be a scalp. These teams will want to get one over on us and we will be prepared for that.
“It’s up to us to do the talking on the pitch. We know what’s required.
“We won’t be worrying about what Kelty or other teams are doing because we know i f we look after ourselves, we’ll be fine.”