We must see off St Roch’s

Boss Jamie McKenzie blasted his 10-man Gartcairn side as they slumped to defeat against North Lanarkshire rivals Shotts Bon Accord.

The Hannah Park outfit put on a dominant display on derby day as Liam Guy saw red for the visitors.

The hosts opened the scoring as Scott Nicol played an inch-perfect pass to Aiden Malone who slotted the ball past Gartcairn boss Jamie McKenzie has dubbed the clash with St Roch’s a must-win after a stuttering start to the campaign.

Cairn will welcome the bottom side in the West Region Championship to MTC Park this weekend having only picked up one win from their opening five games.

McKenzie is adamant that the Airdrie juniors can compete at the top of the division this season, but warned anything but a win against the Glasgow side could set the tone for a relegation scrap.

He told the Advertiser: “It’s a massive game for us now. I don’t think there is anything but a win that we can come away from that game with and be happy.

“We know that we haven’t got off to the best start, but I honestly think we have deserved more points that we have.

“Defensive errors have cost us, and we need to get that out of our game and start climbing the table.

“Yes, we’ve moved up a level and you don’t get away with things you did in the division below, but I believe that the players are better than this.

“We want to take the positives forward and try to push up the table to where I think we should be.“We’re still early in the season but you don’t want to fall too far behind the top teams.

“The goal for me has always been to compete at the top end of this league.

“I don’t want staying up in a relegation dogfight, or kicking about in the middle, to be our goals for the season.

“We either give up because there is better quality in this league, or stand up, puff our chests out and show that we can cut it.”