Boss Kevin Rutkiewicz reckons Lowland rivals love to beat East Kilbride so he has warned his players against complacency ahead of the visit of Cowdenbeath.
The Blue Brazil were the side who inflicted the most painful defeat in the club’s short history when they beat Kilby on penalties in the SPFL play-off final in 2017.
Now in the Lowland League themselves, Maurice Ross’ Cowden come calling on Saturday looking to put a spanner in the works of Kilby’s title charge.
Last weekend EK were on course for victory over Caledonian Braves before a last-gasp penalty forced the league leaders to settle for a 2-2 draw
And Rutkiewicz says his players need to be at it to make sure they take care of Cowden, with Kilby the scalp everyone wants to take.
He said: “We need to be absolutely on top level. These teams coming to us want to beat East Kilbride because we are a target for various reasons.
“One being we are top of the league at the minute and another being that everybody just loves beating East Kilbride, for whatever reason.
“It is an enjoyable challenge, for sure. Some players are just getting introduced to that but hopefully they will learn quickly.
“I feel we can use our own experiences to show that we just can’t switch off.
“We just need to look at the Edinburgh game [a 3-2 defeat] or East Stirling [a 1-1 draw].
“Ten seconds to go on Saturday against Caley Braves we’re winning 2-1, should you lose that lead? I would argue absolutely not.
“So these are the examples we can use to fuel our fire and prove there is just no room for complacency.”
Cowdenbeath sit 14th in the table after a disappointing start to the campaign, while EK are top of the pile by four points from Rangers B and Broomhill, who have played fewer games
Rutkiewicz added: “We are at home against a team who are lower than us in the league so we will go into that game with the absolute focus on winning.
“We know it will be another tough day and the players are very quickly realising that you are not just going to get easy games.
“I’m expecting a tough one. Mo has certainly got them drilled and they will work hard.
“We are wary that they had a good result against East Stirling and they’ve signed a couple of players who’ve made an impact over the past couple of weeks.”
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