THREAVE ROVERS boss Dave McVitie has laid down the gauntlet to his players for the second half of the season.
And it’s simple: win every game.
McVitie, whose Meadow Park side sit six points behind league leaders Dalbeattie Star with two games in hand, insists it’s the only way his team can win the league.
He said: “We can’t afford to drop any points for the rest of the season. If we want to win the league, we need to win every game. That’s the challenge for my players.
“There is still a long way to go this season, with the top four all still having to play each other, so we hope to see teams drop points against each other and look to pick up all the points we can, especially at home.”
Rovers play Nithsdale Wanderers at Meadow Park this weekend, their first South of Scotland League match since thrashing Heston Rovers 6-0 at home way back on October 17.
With Wanderers struggling at the foot of the table, Saturday’s fixture gives Threave the chance to cut Dalbeattie’s lead to three points and close the 13-goal advantage held by Star.
Avoid upset
But McVitie insists that his team must be at their best to avoid an upset, despite having found it difficult to train and play during the winter months.
He said: “I think that Nithsdale have strengthened a bit and they are always a difficult side to play and hard to beat. We’ll need to play good football.
“It’s been frustrating having so many matches cancelled with the freezing weather for both myself and the players.
“We’ve had to find different places to train with the ground being frozen and used places like the high school and even the town hall, just anywhere so that the lads can keep fit and playing.”
Threave go into this match with an injury-ravaged squad. However, McVitie views his jar as half full, with injuries to key players opening doors for the club’s younger players to perform.
He said: “We have a number of experienced players injured at the moment but this gives a chance to some of our youngsters to come in to the team and prove their worth ahead of the run in.”
