Kilsyth Rangers boss ready for Kilwinning play-off challenge

Kilsyth Rangers' bid for top flight football will come down to a double header play-off with Kilwinning Rangers.
Kilsyth Rangers secured their play-off place with Saturday's win over Irvine VicsKilsyth Rangers secured their play-off place with Saturday's win over Irvine Vics
Kilsyth Rangers secured their play-off place with Saturday's win over Irvine Vics

The first leg takes place at Duncansfield tonight with the return at Kilwinning on Friday.

And Kilsyth boss Keith Hogg reckons the pressure is all on the Ayrshire side as the team looking to retain their Premier Division status rather than make the step up.

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Saturday’s win over Irvine Vics wasn’t enough for Kilsyth to clinch an automatic promotion place, but Hogg is pleased with the way his players have bounced back after the disappointment of their recent 5-1 defeat at Petershill.

He said: “Petershill was a fiasco, not in particular from my players, they put in the effort and it was outwith their hands about certain decisions and the way the game ultimately ended up.

“But that was put behind us. We had a great performance against Blantyre and exactly the same on Saturday against Irvine.

“The guys have absolutely knuckled down and produced the goods when required and they are really looking forward to this game.

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“It’s another opportunity to go and express themselves and let other teams out there know why we should be in the position we’re in.

“The positive for us is the first game’s at home and we can put on a performance and put them under a bit of pressure.

“At the end of the day they are the team above, they’re the ones that will be coming here with the expectation of beating us because they are in the league above.

“But we’ll be out to prove a big point because the guys have worked hard the entire season and this is where they need to get the benefit of all that hard work.”

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Hogg said that bringing top flight football to Duncansfield - possibly for two seasons if reconstruction proposals go through - would be “fantastic” for the club.

He said: “I said at the start of the season we’ll aim for the play-offs. We exceeded by sitting at the top of the league for the best part of the season.”