McCall: We’re now slight favourites to avoid play-off

Martin Rennie’s first-half strike leaves the Bully Wee two points ahead of Stranraer at the bottom of League Two, as they head to Elgin City on the last day.

A win or better result than Stranraer manage will keep Clyde safe, while pitching their rivals into a clash against Lowland League champions East Kilbride.

McCall said: “It’s in our own hands and that’s all we could ask for, with one game to go.

“It puts us two ahead of Stranraer, who were 12 ahead of us in January, but nothing is done.

“The win makes us very, very slight favourites, but no more than that.

“I thought we should have won 5-0, and that’s the disappointing thing.

“We missed one in the first half that was an open goal, and Jordan Allan, who worked his socks off, could have had two or three himself.

“But I’m pleased with the three points.

“I thought the level of performance was really good, all sorts of individuals have played at their absolute best.

“I challenged Martin Rennie, who hasn’t been doing particularly well, and I thought he was outstanding.

“We got the goal but we missed so many chances.

“We go to Elgin next week, we go to win, and if we win then it’s job done.

“And I can tell you, it hasn’t been as easy job.”

McCall added: “It’s always important to have a winning mentality at a club. How you create that is by winning matches and having a squad at the start of the season that’s good enough to do that.

“It isn’t easy doing it in January, when you need to rip something up and start again, but I think we’ve shown in one or two pressured games that we can come through that.

“We’ve let ourselves down a couple of times as well, but if you had offered me this at the start of January I’d have taken it.”

Meanwhile, defender Craig Howie says the Bully Wee have let fans down too often this season, and wants to repay their faith with a win that ensures Stranraer are in the pyramid play-off final against East Kilbride, instead of themselves.

The Rutherglen man, who arrived in

January for a second spell at the club, knows there is a lot of hard work to do on Saturday, but says winning is all that matters.

Howie – whose header hit the right post and running along the goal-line, before Martin Rennie battered it into the net – said: “It’s good to get the win, especially in our final home game, to give the fans something to cheer about – because we’ve probably let them down too many times over the season.

“But it’s great to get the three points and it puts us in a good position.

“It’s in our own hands, which is pretty much all we could ask for.

“Anytime in football, if it’s in your own hands to determine the outcome of wherever you want to finish in the league, that’s exactly what you’re looking for.

“There’s a lot of work still to do. “I have no doubt we’ll go out there confident, and we’re going up there to win the game, get three points, and as long as we’re safe at the end of the game that’s all that matters. If we go up there and do the business, we’ll be coming down the road happy.

“It would mean everything to me, everything to the fans.”