Larkhall Thistle boss Brian Crawford says his players deserve to enjoy their summer after sealing promotion to the West of Scotland Second Division on Monday night.
Jags go into their final game of the Third Division season at home to Kello Rovers on Saturday in an unassailable position and will make the step-up alongside second-placed Ardrossan Winton Rovers, and champions Vale of Clyde.
Crawford said: “I’m delighted. The boys have worked hard for it this season, and I’m over the moon for them that they’ve managed to secure promotion.
“We can relax, now, the hard work is done, so go out and enjoy the last game – but we still want to win it, we can’t go out and mess about!
“Personally I think the boys deserve to be up there. I think they’ve proved that they can play against better teams and beat them – they’ve done that in the Scottish Cup this season.
“They’ve got their rewards for hard work, to be at the level they should be at. It has gone right down to the wire, and if we’re all honest, I didn’t expect anybody to run away with it at any point.
“Everybody in the top six teams, roughly, all knew it was going to go down to the last month – certainly we did – and we were all very close.
“It has gone down to the last game or two of the season; Vale of Clyde winning it the other night, Ardrossan getting their promotion when we played them on Saturday (3-3 draw) and us on Monday.”
Crawford added: “The boys can enjoy their summer, and look forward to getting back,knowing that they’re going up a division.
“It’s different challenges next season, probably more difficult, so they’ll need to be fit and ready.”
And Crawford revealed that most of his squad have signed up for next season’s crack at the West of Scotland League Second Division.
He added: “We’ve managed to keep a good part of the squad, so that’s a big thing for us next season, and we’re obviously going to be looking to add a few as well.
“We need to add if you want to progress, and that’s not being disrespectful in any way to the guys who are there, but we need to get a bit more experience.
“They’re a young side – we’ve only got three guys over the age of 30, the rest are all 24 and under.
“But the fact we’ve got these guys who are ranging from 19 to 24 gives us a great foundation.”
Follow Lanarkshire Live Sport on Twitter via @LanLiveSport, like us on Facebook or find us on Instagram for the latest sports news, pictures and video.
