Barry Russell hopes a Junior Cup shock at Glenafton can help East Kilbride Thistle kick-start their season.
The Jags skipper has seen his side suffer a disappointing start to the campaign in the West of Scotland League Third Division, with the pre-season title hopefuls sitting 12th in the table after one win in six games.
This past week has been bruising with 10 goals shipped in 4-1 and 6-1 league defeats to Lanark United and Larkhall Thistle, respectively.
So it’s a daunting task heading to Ayrshire to tackle Premier side Glenafton in the first round of the cup on Saturday.
But Russell believes his side are capable of upset with the likes of experienced players Jamie Longworth and David Sinclair in the squad, while ex-Glenafton man David Gray is set to return from holiday in time for the clash.
Russell said: “We’ve not really started the season the way we were hoping, so Saturday is going to be a massive game and we need to stick together.
“All we need is one result to kick-start our season and we hope this can be it. We don’t need to play the pretty football, we just need to grind results out
.
“Going to Ayrshire is always hard but it would be a good place to start getting some results.
"There’s experienced players in our squad and hopefully against better opposition, we’ll all start to click.
“There is no pressure on us and everyone will be expecting Glenafton roll us over, especially after our recent results.
“We know we will be up against it for the majority of the game, but sometimes in the cup these games can go your way.
“All the boys know what to expect from Glenafton.”
Russell revealed the players have had a sit-down chat following their last two results to air their feelings, and he insists it has been beneficial.
He added: “We all had a positive chat about things, saying exactly what we think. I didn’t expect to be having that chat at this stage of the season but it’s a new side, a new starting 11 so it takes time. It will all click for us eventually.
“We haven’t been clinical, missing big chances, then two seconds later we are losing cheap goals, so we know we need to tighten up all over the pitch.”
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