Football: Willie admits Glens were beaten by the better team

Apr 13 2011 by Douglas Dickie, Rutherglen Reformer

WILLIE Harvey has admitted that his Glencairn side were simply beaten by the better steam on Saturday.

Glens’ went down 4-0 at home to Auchinleck Talbot, a result that has left them bottom of the league with games starting to run out.

Willie has always maintained that his team have usually competed in the premier division, even in defeat, but he was under no illusions about the difference in quality of the sides at the weekend.

Talbot’s quality shone through as Glens couldn’t muster a repeat of the draw they snatched in Ayrshire earlier in the season.And Willie had few complaints as he surveyed the wreckage: “Sometimes a result like that comes with the territory I’m afraid.

“They were just for too strong for us, that’s the best way to describe it. Some of my players were in a wee bit of awe of them and didn’t produce their best. They succumbed far too easily.

“Until the first goal we were doing ok and then we had a chance before the break to score. But we missed and they went up the park and scored so instead of going in at 1-1, we went in 2-0 down.

“Basically, sometimes you’ve got to hold our hands up and say that a team has been too good for you.”

The worry for Willie now is that the result knocks the stuffing out of Glens with another two massive home games coming up.

Glens face Pollok tonight (ko 6.30pm) and Cumnock on Saturday (ko 7pm) as they look to close the gap on the teams above them.

Results like Saturday’s can often play on players minds, but Willie is confident that they Glens squad can shake of the memory and start picking up points.

He said: “You always worry about how the players will react but, at the end of the day, all you can do is get them into training and point out where we went wrong.

“You work on things that you didn’t do well and try and lift their spirits.

“On Monday we seemed to have managed that by the end of the session.

“No-one expected us to get anything but the manner in which we lost was disappointing, but by last night our spirits were up and we now feel we can take something from the next few games.”

Willie also knows that results against the likes of Pollok and Auchinleck are not likely to seal Glens fate, instead it will be games against the teams directly above them that will matter.

He also knows that with some teams now sitting in the obscurity of mid-table safety, there may be other opportunities to pick up points as the season draws to its conclusion.

He said: “You can’t really beat playing Auchinleck and then following it up with Pollok.

“It’s a great position to be in, every game is a big, big game so you don't have time to keep your head down.

“You are never 100 per cent safe in this league but I think it does become, maybe not easier, but less daunting if the likes of these big teams are challenging for the league and you have a group below them that can’t win anything.

“These clubs are maybe just trying to get the season finished and maybe don’t have the same hunger.

“It does happen. You tend to find that teams at the bottom will fight a lot harder than a team in mid-table that can’t go down or up.

“All we can do is look after ourselves. We just need to try and pick up as many points as we can.”