East Kilbride boss Kevin Rutkiewicz hopes his side can go on a run to take a stranglehold of the Lowland League after a thumping 6-0 win at Gretna 2008 last night ended their three-game losing streak.
Kilby had tumbled down the table in recent weeks and Rutkiewicz admitted ahead of the clash at Raydale Park that they had to stop the rot fast to avoid their title hopes disappearing into thin air.
And his side responded to that warning as a double from Cami Elliott plus strikes from Docherty, Morgan, Neil McLaughlin and Bob McHugh gave them a comfortable win.
Results elsewhere also went their way to leave them just two points off second-place Spartans and three off leaders Rangers B, who have two games in hand.
So Rutkiewicz wants his side to grasp the nettle.
He said: "This week has epitomized the way this league has gone for the past six weeks.
"We got top, then we stuttered. Rangers B got top, had a wee stutter. Spartans have been up there and so have Civil and all had a wee stutter. Broomhill got very close as well.
"It is crying out for somebody to take a stranglehold on it so it is an incredibly tight league.
"Ourselves included, no one has been able to sustain it.
"But I would say we've given some clubs a life line with some of the games we've lost to teams below us.
"If I'm being greedy, if we were at it in all our games we could spin it and say we should be sitting very comfortably right now.
"I'm just extremely happy that we are only two points or so behind.
"We've broken that bad run with this result. And it wasn't just a great result, it was a good performance as well.
"The first half hour was fairly tight but once we got the first goal, we got stronger and stronger and finished the game as you would imagine when you are 6-0 up."
Sixth-place Kilby now host 12th place Berwick Rangers on Saturday and Rutkiewicz added: "We reach the halfway stage of our season on Saturday and if we finish with a positive result, I'd be happy with where we are given the turnover of players we've had.
"We have to show signs of being more consistent.
"There was always going to be a lull but, hopefully, that's us shaken that off now and we can kick on."
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