Brian McGinty insists he won’t use injuries as an excuse if Irvine Meadow crash out the Scottish Junior cup at home to Glenafton this weekend.
Meadow will be without several key players for the fourth round clash as they look to stay in the competition beyond Christmas.
Defensive duo Darren Miller and Jared Willet are certain to miss the match while striker Eddie McTernan is a major doubt.
Miller is struggling to shake off an ankle problem while Willet and McTernan picked up fresh injuries in Saturday’s 4-1 league defeat at Largs.
McGinty is already without long-term injury absentees Ben Carson, Jordan McGuire and Graham Boyd but believes he still has enough within the ranks to see off Glens.
“These guys are a huge loss for us, especially with the games coming thick and fast over the next month or so,” said McGinty.
“But as I’ve always said, we’ve no superstars in this squad. I know whoever comes into the team can do a job for us.
“It’s up to me to pick the right team and if we play like I know we can, at 100 per cent with real intensity, then I always feel we can beat anyone.”
Glenafton head to Meadow Park on a high after hammering Auchinleck Talbot 3-0.
McGinty insists the Loch Park outfit, who won the competition in 2017, are favourites on paper.
But he’s a firm believer in the form book going out the window for the cup.
He added: “Glenafton have some excellent players. For me they are one of the top three teams in the West.
“Most of their boys have cup winners medals and they are very experienced.
“They come into the game flying while we haven’t really played well for a couple of weeks now, despite picking up a fairly good run of results.
“That’ll all count for nothing on Saturday though. The players know if they don’t turn up we’ll be out the cup and nothing can be rectified.
“We want to win this competition and to do that we have to still be in it after Christmas.”
