East Kilbride Thistle co-boss Russell Craig says getting a pre-season will be massive as they look to make their mark on the West of Scotland League Division Three next term.
Craig and Alan Paterson were brought in from the Showpark club’s under-21s to replace Iain Diack, who quit for Premier League side Rossvale in July, and took their entire squad with them.
But having had a crack at Conference C this season, Craig says they will have a much better idea of what to expect.
Thistle drew 1-1 with St Roch’s at James McGrory Park at the weekend in their penultimate game, and will finish 11th in the table after hosting fellow strugglers Vale of Clyde at the Showpark on Saturday.
And Craig said: “Pre-season is massive for us. It lets everybody get prepared.
“We came in unprepared for the West of Scotland League, we were preparing for a final year at 21s.
“We’ll prepare properly this time, we’ve had a taste of what to expect, and what we’re going to face, so I’d like to think we would be a wee bit more prepared for it and ready.
“We’ll be able to bring in our guys; we brought the whole 21s with us, so we’ve got to give them a chance again.
“We’ll also have boys moving up from the under-20s, and be looking to strengthen in certain areas because we don’t have cover.
“That has been frustrating.
"We’ve had to move people from, say, midfield to centre-half or left-back and play guys out of position because we haven’t got cover in some positions.
“That means we haven’t been able to get the best out of some of them, who are playing out of position, and we’ve been doing that too often.
“It could be a busy summer for us, but we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”
Craig says the West of Scotland League has been a real test for Thistle, with just nine wins from 23 games played so far this season. They have suffered defeat on 15 occasions.
But they now look forward to getting stuck into a division next term that will involve teams like Carluke Rovers, Newmains United, Vale of Clyde and Dalry Thistle.
Craig added: “It has been an eye-opener, just with the way things are done on the Saturdays.
“The standard of teams we’re playing is a lot higher than what we were used to – that’s no disrespect to the under-21s, that’s just to be expected.
“It took us maybe four or five games into the season to get used to that, but it has been good, and we have enjoyed it.
“It’s obviously better when you win games of football, but we’ve enjoyed it, and fingers crossed that will continue.
“It has been frustrating, but enjoyable.
“I think we can get more out of some players.
“There are still a few boys who we could get more out of, but I don’t want to be down on them.
“We’re happy with what we’ve got, but we know we could add a couple of players to it, just to strengthen it.”
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