Rutherglen Glencairn gaffer Willie Harvey admits he is sweating on the fitness of five key men ahead of Sunday’s Junior Cup semi-final, after players picked up knocks in their league defeat to St Cadoc’s.
Glens warmed for their last four tie against Dundee East Craigie with a 2-0 defeat away to St Cadoc’s on Saturday, which saw Harry Mitchell and Ryan McManus go off at half-time.
They are now added to a list which includes star striker Jack McIlveen, defender Scott Schoneville and midfielder Martin McBride, who are all being assessed this week ahead of the club’s biggest game in a decade.
The injuries are a concern, but Harvey says the result wasn’t reflective of his side’s display, which leaves them eighth in the West of Scotland First Division.
He said: “It’s not an excuse because there are no excuses for us getting beat on Saturday, but we were playing a St Cadoc’s team chasing the league without five big players.
“Jack McIlveen, Scott Schoneville, Martin McBride were missing and we had to take off Harry Mitchell and Ryan McManus at half-time after they both picked up knocks. They are all big players for us, but the players who came in for them did do well.
“My physio is quietly confident that they are all going to make it but we’ll need to wait and see how they go through the week.
“Jack actually declared himself fit on Saturday, even though he was still feeling his injury a wee bit, but we took the decision not to play him.
“Scott has been out with a tear on his groin and Martin has been out with a twisted knee, but we hope they will be available as well.”
On the defeat to St Cadoc’s itself, Harvey added: “It’s not the result we wanted before a cup semi-final but performance-wise, I have got no complaints. We made two schoolboy errors and got punished for it - and that was it for the rest of the game.
“Other than the result, there were an awful lot of positives, especially when we had five players not playing.”
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