Arthurlie boss Colin Reilly insists his players should be proud of being the only WoSFL conference-winning team to beat the drop this season.
Having clinched the Conference A title in stunning fashion after not losing a single league game, the Barrhead club have struggled at times to get to grips with life in the Premier Division.
After a couple of managers came and went, it fell to Reilly to try and rescue the faltering side who at one stage looked destined for relegation.
While Reilly revealed he inherited a dressing room so bereft of confidence it felt “dead”, the gaffer managed to revive the Dunterlie Park side to pick up four valuable wins since his appointment that saved their top-flight skins.
And Reilly is adamant the squad should be pleased to be the one conference team that managed to stay in the Premier Division, with fellow conference champions Cambuslang Rangers and Petershill both relegated while ‘Lie beat the drop by two points.
Speaking after a final day 4-2 defeat to Glenafton, he said: “The changing room was dead when I arrived. It was so flat and it was definitely a challenge to get the boys playing with confidence.
“To get the four wins we did was a massive achievement and the guys worked really hard to make that a possibility.
“We managed to give them a new lease of life and a new identity and that got us pushing forward.
“We’re delighted to stay up and we’re the only conference team to come up that managed to stay up. We’ve got to take pride in that.
“Our aim now is to build on our squad and keep working on our identity. We can work on shape and patterns of play more in pre-season and we believe we can become even stronger for next season.
“We’ve managed to stay up this year and next year we’ll be trying to push for a top-half finish.”
Having come through the youth ranks at Dundee United as a player, Reilly isn’t afraid to build a youthful side now as a boss.
With young first-team players Michael MacNeil, Lee Roulston, Lewis Magee and Conor Bradley all signing new deals recently, the Arthurlie boss is determined to keep taking advantage of the club’s excellent relationship with Barrhead Youth and continue to also promote from their own under-20s team.
He said: “My belief has always been if you’re good enough, you’re old enough.
“Liam Strain is only 19 and we gave him a debut start against Glenafton and he did very well against a very experienced opponent in Paul Paton – a Northern Ireland international.
“He was brave on the ball and that’s what we want at this club. It’s massive to get the spine of the team sorted early and we’ve got a number of players signed up now that we see as key going forward.
“A lot are only 22 or 23, which means they’ve still got a lot of development potential in them.
“I came through the youth ranks at Dundee United and personally I enjoy developing young talents now as a manager.”
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