Wishaw boss Mark Daly has hit out at the West of Scotland League over what he believes are an unfair set of fixtures for his side to kick-off the new season.
West of Scotland League secretary, Kennie Young, compiled the schedule for the 2021/22 campaign, due to kick-off on July 17, and Wishy have been handed three consecutive Saturdays away from home to start the Conference C season.
They face Neilston, Lanark United and Petershill on the road, with home clashes with East Kilbride Thistle and St Anthony’s on the Wednesday nights in between across their opening five fixtures.
And Daly, who has complained to the league over the scheduling, believes his side have been hard done by.
He told Lanarkshire Live Sport : “I’m not overly pleased with three Saturday away fixtures in a row, to be honest, and I made my feelings known about that to the league.
“I don’t think that’s very competitive or fair. The fixture secretary came back to us and said ‘well, you’ve got three homes after that’ but I don’t see how that makes it any better.
“Fans have been away for so long and for the first three Saturdays we are back and they can come along, we’ve not got any homes games.
“I don’t think that’s conducive to a good competitive league.
“I don’t see the professional leagues doing that at any point, so I don’t see why we are doing it?
“But, it is what it is, nothing is going to change. We aren’t going to win, so we’ll just have to take it as it comes.
“The three Saturdays away aren’t easy fixtures so it’s a difficult start for us. But, hopefully, we can still start well.”
He added sarcastically: “It’s a lovely, nice and easy start for us away to Neilston.
"It doesn’t matter who you play or when you play them, you’ve got to go and play them at some point.”
Wishaw’s preparations for the new season are going well, however.
They followed up last week’s 2-2 draw with Cambuslang Rangers by thrashing Thorniewood United 6-0 on Saturday.
Gary Duggan, David O’Donnell, Stevie McGurgan, Bobby Colligan, KB Grant and Scot Nicol were all on target in front of fans at Beltane Park.
“It was a very good performance,” said Daly. “Being fair, Thorniewood had a few out, as did we, because we were both down to 12 players.
“But both sides still wanted to get the game played and it was a thoroughly professional performance from us.
“We had six different scorers and a penalty in there as well. Two or three of the goals were good moves and good finishes, so it was good to see the hard work that we’ve put in over the last four or five weeks coming to fruition.
“We are trying to implement a new system and the boys are buying into it.
“It was good to see the fans coming in as well and they were impressed with how we went about our business.
“Our boys carried out the game plan to a tee. They moved the ball about well and the goals were fantastic.”
This Saturday Wishaw host Whitehill Welfare.
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