Rutherglen Glencairn boss Willie Harvey hopes his strikers are building a fruitful partnership after watching his side slam five goals past Greenock in the Scottish Junior Cup.
And Harvey says the interaction between Ryan McManus and Jack McIlveen is almost telepathic.
McManus helped himself to a hat-trick in the 5-1 win, aided by strike partner McIlveen and midfielder Sean Hughes.
And Harvey said: “My two strikers are starting to form a great relationship – Jack McIlveen and Ryan McManus – and you can see a force there.
“You can see a team forming between them. They know each others’ runs, now, and the longer they play together and stay free of injuries, the better they’re going to get.
“They’re starting to look like a really good partnership.”
Harvey hopes that comes to the fore when they travel to Thorniewood in the West of Scotland First Division on Saturday – because they need the points.
He said: “Everybody’s telling me how good a team Thorniewood are.
“They have a couple of decent players, a decent striker, and their defence is good.
“But what it comes down to is that we need to get the points on the table, because we’re a bundle of games behind now, because of our cup games.
“Saturday is a big game for us, we want to get three points.
“We got three points against Rossvale, we want to pick up another win, because we want to get as far up the division as we can.”
Glencairn have a demanding schedule ahead of them, with just four home games in their next 12, and Harvey hopes that doesn’t come back to bite them as they bid for points.
He said: “A lot of games we’ve got coming up are away from home.
“That’s going to be hard, not just physically but financially, and it’s going to be a big ask.
“But just like anybody else we just need to get on with it and look forward to it.”
Harvey was pleased with Saturday’s 5-1 win at Greenock, but says there’s a long way to go.
He said: “There are still a lot of rough edges, we’re not anywhere near the finished article, but we’re starting to see what we want.”
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