Darren Young hailed his high-flying Binos for their quick-fire starts – and wants the trend to continue against Albion Rovers on Saturday.
Albion have come flying out of the traps regularly in their recent winning run, scoring within the opening half hour in each of their last four league wins to top the table.
It continued on Saturday, with Dale Carrick’s rebounded effort giving the home side the lead after just 18 minutes.
It’s a trend that has put them in the driving seat in games and Young insists the bedrock of their quick starts is set at training every week. And gaffer Young said: “It does help to set the game up and it’s all on the players and their attitudes to the game. They are fit players and you can see that in the data and numbers you get in training and in games.
“We ask them to train how they play and make sure that their first pass, first tackle in every game is up to scratch.
“It’s a combination of everything – we tell the players how we think we can hurt teams and then it’s up to the guys on the park to work it out during the game.
“It certainly helps to have a good start in games because more often than not, the team who scores the first goal does tend to go on and win.
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“ But we had to come back twice in Brechin so it shows we have determination and character when we need it as well.”
It’s another return to a former stomping ground for the Binos manager on Saturday as he heads to Coatbridge to take on the club where he spent almost three years as player/manager between 2014 and 2017.
Despite the home side propping up the League 2 table. Young expects a tough battle at Cliftonhill – with the sides having shared the points on their previous meeting this season, a 1-1 draw at Forthbank in September.
Young added: “It will be a similar game to Bonnyrigg but we’ll go in confident because we’re scoring goals and defending well at the moment – back-to-front we were tremendous on Saturday and they scored with their only shot on target.
“Albion Rovers are a good team with players that can cause any team in this league problems so it’s about being ruthless on the day.
“They had good chances in the earlier game against us and got their goal so it’s about being hard to beat when we don’t have the ball, moving the ball quickly ourselves and we’re getting joy from set pieces which is great.”
The gaffer confirmed midfielder Jack Leitch will return to training next week, while skipper Paul McLean remains “touch and go” for Saturday’s 3pm kick-off.
