St Cuthbert Wanderers chief Jordan Williamson is breathing a sigh of relief that the packed start to the season is over.
Saturday’s 3-1 win over Caledonian Braves was the Kirkcudbright side’s ninth game in 28 days,with the St Mary’s Park boss believing the heavy schedule was evident in his players’ performance.
But his squad now can now look forward to some blank midweeks, giving them time to recover from injury and focus on maintaining their place at the top of the South of Scotland League.
Williamson said: “I think in the last week the games have caught up with us. It’s been a lot on the players and we’ve started to see that in the performances.
“We’ve got an extra training day now the midweek fixtures are finished. The strength and depth in the squad is good, We’ve been able to make changes but you can see some players were toiling.
“We were sluggish in our play on Saturday and weren’t sharp enough. I think that’s partly because we put so much into the Threave game the week before.
“We were a bit disappointed in the performance. The payers came off the park almost as if they’d been beaten as they know they’ve got so much more to give.
“The main thing is it’s an away game, it’s three points on the road and we’ve kept ourselves top of the tree.”
First-half goals from Scott Ballantyne and Mark O’Rourke seemed to have Saints well in control but the Braves halved the deficit in the second half.
However, Ballantyne struck again with a volley to restore the advantage and secure the three points.
Saints are at home to Uppers this weekend as they look to strengthen their position at the top of the table.
And Williamson was set to complete the signing of former Queen’s Park youngster David Taylor who has recently been playing as a trialist.
He said: “He can play centre-back or centre midfield. He’s just left Queen’s Park reserves and has been brought through their academy system. It’s a shame they’ve stopped their reserve team as there were a lot of talented young boys there.
“We know it’s going to be tough on Saturday to get the three points. Uppers have been a bogey team for us over the past three years.
“We’ve taken some pointers from their game against Wigtown as for what to expect. Being at home we can get the ball down, play some good football and get our performance back up to the high intensity we know we can produce.”
Saturday is set to be Saints’ last game for a fortnight as they, along with Wigtown, were handed byes in the draw for the preliminary round of the Scottish Cup.
“We wish Threave and Newton all the best, Hopefully they can progress and all four South representatives can be in the first round proper.”
