Burgh boss says team need to fight for points

Johnstone gaffer admits time is running out for promotion push

Jamie McKim insists Johnstone Burgh can’t afford any more slipups in the race for promotion.

It’s now four West of Scotland League First Division games without a win for the Keanie Park men after Saturday’s setback at St Roch’s.

Goals from Ben Daily and Reece McGillion were enough for the hosts who survived being down to 10 men for the final part of the game at James McGrory Park.

Kieran Brophy pulled one back for Burgh but it wasn’t to be and they lie 10th in the table – 10 points adrift of the promotion places.

“Every game is huge,” boss McKim told club media. “I know people are saying we’ve got the semi-finals coming up; I cannot stress enough, these semi-finals are later in the season and cannot be any further from my mind.

“These league games aren’t just semifinals, they are cup finals.

“If we’re going to hit our goals and ambitions this year, we’ve not got time to feel sorry for ourselves.

“We need to be together, in that dressing room, we need to be fighting and we need to stop leaking poor goals.

“Going into Saturday, we need to be better and need to start putting points

ST ROCH’S ................................................. 2 JOHNSTONE BURGH ............................... 1

on the board now.

“There isn’t any more time. It’s okay saying there’s games in hand – but games in hand mean nothing. Points are all that matters.”

McKim admitted conceding cheap goals was Burgh’s achilles heel and he also felt his team didn’t play to the conditions when chasing the game while Saints were down to 10 men.

He said: “It’s very disappointing. We had hopes of getting three points and putting the previous poor form to bed but we’ve not managed to do that.

“We’re making it really difficult for ourselves in terms of the goals we’re losing. I thought we started brightly and were the better team for the first part of the game but, again, the goals are big moments.

“When we score to make it 2-1, we feel we’re in the ascendancy and we want to put pressure on St Roch’s, especially when we go down to 10 men.

“But we didn’t do that well enough which is my major disappointment. I thought we stopped being direct.

“This is a difficult place to come. You aren’t coming here to play on that surface.

“You are coming here to go longer, play off second balls and make sure we win in that way.”

Meanwhile, McKim explained the club’s thinking behind moving the midweek home games with Thorniewood United and Cambuslang Rangers.

Albion Rovers’ Cliftonhill ground in Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, will stage both clashes. Supporters’ bus travel will be free and season tickets will be valid.

McKim added: “After the semi-final matches, we’d have somewhere in the region of 10 games left in the space of three weeks if we didn’t play these games.

“So, instead of playing three or four times a week, we’re trying to break it up and give our boys a chance to recover and give us the best chance of success.”

Burgh said they did try and rent a venue closer to home for these fixtures.

 Johnstone Burgh confirmed yesterday that the second leg of their Junior Cup semi-final with Arthurlie will kick-off at 5.30pm on Saturday, April 20.