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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Lochlin Highet

Irvine Meadow boss 'not daunted' ahead of tough clashes against title challengers

Kevin Deeney is getting set for back-to-back clashes against two title challengers.

Irvine Meadow host Pollok on Saturday before heading to Auchinleck Talbot next Wednesday night.

And Deeney insists he’s not daunted by the tasks that lie ahead as he has faith in his side.

He told the Herald: “Pollok had the derby win against Arthurlie and they’ve been digging out good results recently.

“It doesn’t get any easier after that as we are away to Auchinleck Talbot.

“It’s two big games, but we aren’t daunted because it’s not as if we’re some sort of amateur team, we’re in their league and we have a chance ourselves.

“Pollok have real quality, that’s what you’re up against sometimes against these teams, games like this is why you play football, you want to test yourselves against the best teams.”

Meanwhile Deeney admits he’s got “no complaints” after his side lost 3-1 away to North Ayrshire rivals Largs Thistle.

Medda travelled up the A78 full of hope that they could bag a result against an in-form Largs side – but it wasn’t to be as David Ramsay bagged a double which was complemented by a Scott Lewis strike.

Connor O’Donnell had given Medda hope when he pulled it back to 2-1 but the Barrfields men triumphed in the end.

Medda slipped down to sixth in the West of Scotland League Premier Division as their opponents Largs and also Auchinleck Talbot, who defeated bitter rivals Cumnock, overtook the Irvine side.

Gutted boss Deeney said: “I have no complaints about the result. Largs were better than us – it’s that simple.

“They worked harder than us, had that wee bit more quality. It’s not that we didn’t turn up, we just couldn’t match them.

“I spoke to Arnie [Stuart Davidson] after the match and told him I felt they had a real freshness about them.

“They have got a lot of players back after struggling to put a team together, but there was a real buzz about them on Saturday, they had a spark.

“I think they will keep that going, they have got a lot of options and that proved the difference against us.

“I can’t complain, we were well beaten on the day. We just have to work hard and recover from it.”

He continued: “We had a good chance at the start which could have made things different, and I felt their first goal actually came against the run of play.

“But once they scored they didn’t look back. It was very frustrating and we just couldn’t match them.”

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