Renfrew boss Jimmy Quigley hopes his players are saving their best for their shot at writing themselves into the club’s history books this Friday night.
The Second Division league leaders have been off the boil in recent weeks, following up their disappointing 2-2 draw with title rivals St Anthony’s with another stalemate with struggling Greenock Juniors.
The New Western Park club haven’t made it to a cup final since they made the Sectional League Cup showdown in 2012, when they suffered a painful 3-0 defeat to Pollok.
On Friday evening Quigley’s men have a chance to become club legends when they take on First Division side Whitletts Victoria at New Tinto Park in the Strathclyde Demolition Cup final.
And the ‘Frew boss is hopeful his side can turn things around just in time for the upcoming showpiece event after a couple of underwhelming domestic performances.
Quigley told Renfrewshire Live Sport: “The Greenock game was another poor showing from us. We started well and went ahead early through Gregor Wylie, but then we sat back and waited for something to happen.
“Greenock worked harder than us and we couldn’t complain with the draw in the end.
“That’s four points dropped in our last two games, which isn’t good enough.
“I think the cup final having been on the horizon for so long has affected our league performances.
“I don’t think the players have meant for that to happen because they’re an honest, hard-working bunch who play for each other.
“I just think subconsciously that final has been on their minds and they’ve not been playing as freely as they normally do.
“We’ve been in a wee bit of a rut but we now have an opportunity to write ourselves into the history books of the club. We’ve got to take advantage of that.
“Whitletts are a strong side with players who can hurt us. They’ll be most people’s favourites given they’re a league above us.
“But we tend to raise our game for the big occasions and we need that more than ever this Friday night.
“Cup finals don’t come around very often for most teams. It’s been a long, long time since this club won a cup final but hopefully we can bring a trophy home with us on Friday night.”
Renfrew almost have home advantage on their side, with just a short journey ahead of them to make it to Benburb’s ground on the outskirts of Glasgow.
Whitletts will be travelling up from Ayrshire, with Quigley hoping their strong, vocal backing will help see them over the finish line.
Quigley said: “We’ve already got three buses booked and there will hopefully be a big crowd for us and a great atmosphere.
“We’ve managed to get it sorted so all under-16s can go free, so there should be a lot of kids along too. Our whole youth set up is going so there’ll be a good crowd for us.
“For me it’s not about us being successful as a coaching staff. We’ve won trophies before in our playing days so we know what it feels like.
“For us this is about trying to make these boys successful. If they can perform well and get a taste of it, they’ll want more and more.
“It’s a great experience for the players whatever happens. It’s a no-lose situation for us.
“We’ll either win or we’ll learn. If we win the cup these guys will be Renfrew heroes. If they don’t then they’re still a young group that will use the experience to drive them on for even more success in the future.”
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