East Kilbride Thistle boss Aaron Connolly insists he won’t take anything for granted as they prepare to face bottom side Newmains United this weekend.
The Jags are still licking their wounds from a 6-1 thrashing at the hands of Larkhall Thistle in their last outing in the West of Scotland League Third Division on November 5 and, after having had a free weekend, now welcome the basement boys to the Showpark on Saturday.
Connolly bagged a last-gasp equaliser when the sides last met in October, introducing himself from the bench to earn a 2-2 draw, so says just because his side are 10 places above their opponents and 14 points ahead doesn’t mean they will be expecting victory.
He said: “We’ve beaten teams above us and also had some difficult results against teams around us, so I won’t take anything for granted, thinking we will get three points on Saturday.
“We will just prepare for it in the best manner we can and hopefully we will see an improvement from the Larkhall game.
“I don’t concern myself much with league tables. We played Newmains earlier in the season and they probably should have beaten us that day.
“I had to come on because we were light on numbers and got the equaliser, but we didn’t deserve to get a draw that day.
“The more time I spend in this league, the more I think any team can beat anyone.
“I think every game in this league is a good chance to win.
“No one is going to run away with the league and I don’t think anyone will get cut too far adrift.
“Every game is a challenge and brings its own difficulties. Saturday will be no different.
“What we’ve seen of Newmains so far, they are young, fit and they work hard so they will make it challenging for us.
“We are in a bit of a transitional period at the moment so, for us, it’s about taking it a game at a time.”
The Jags boosted their squad with the addition of three new players last week after Connolly brought in midfielders Jack McQuade and Dean Fitzpatrick, as well as striker Simon Miller.
He added: “We managed to confirm signings during the week that boosted our numbers and we’ve had some good training sessions in.
“With no game, we worked a few things into the players on Saturday ahead of the game with Newmains.
“Simon played as a trialist in the Larkhall game [on November 5] and got himself sent off so we won’t see him on Saturday, but hopefully the others will play.
“I still think we need to add a couple more if we can.
“Six teenagers make up the 18/19 players we are working with at the moment so we need players to come in and aid their development.”
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