WE ARE HURTING
Paterson wants EK to channel pain into Kelty clash
East Kilbride caretaker boss Jim Paterson insists the club are determined to topple league leaders Kelty Hearts this weekend to ease some of their title pain.
The defending champions need a miracle to hold on to their crown, sitting 16 points adrift of Kelty in ninth place, and they head to New Central Park on Saturday looking to put a dent in Kelty’s hopes of dethroning them.
Barry Ferguson’s side beat 10man Kilby 1-0 at K-Park last month, but since then Paterson has been left to pick up the pieces of a woeful run under Stuart Malcolm, who has moved north to manage League One Forfar.
It’s been a tough few months for Kilby, but since Paterson took the reins he has restored some pride and a winning mentality.
Paterson has won all three of his games in charge and hopes his players can keep the 100 per record intact in Fife.
He said: “When you look at where we are in the league, it’s hurting me, it’s hurting everyone behind the scenes at the club and I’m sure it’s hurting the players as well.
“We are still defending champions but Kelty are top, looking to win this league now.
“I’ve said before we will need snookers to win the league, but even although there’s a big gap between us in the league, we’ll be going there to prove a point and show we are still one of the top teams in this league.”
Paterson – whose side saw their East of Scotland Cup match with Haddington postponed at the weekend – was Malcolm’s assistant at K-Park and he is encouraged by what he saw when the sides last met.
“The game at K-Park was pretty close,” said Paterson.
“We had no arguments with Craig Reid’s sending off, but we had an argument with their goal because we felt there was a foul in the build-up.
“It’s small things like that which make a difference because I felt we dominated the ball for much of the game and played well with 10 men.
“We’ve both got dangerous players and I think it could be a very open game this time with the way I’ve been asking the boys to play, which is being attacking and taking the game to teams.
“Kelty have scored a lot of goals this season and we can score a lot of goals as well, so I think it will be a good game.”
Nothing has changed for Paterson as the Kilby board continue their search for a successor to Stuart Malcolm.
Paterson has already stated his intention to land the job on a permanent basis, but knows he will face a lot of competition to stay in the hot-seat.
He said: “I’m still working on a week-to-week basis.
“I know there’s been a lot of interest in the job, but I’m in charge for the moment. It’s up to me to keep proving myself by getting results and putting points on the board.”
Kick-off on Saturday is 3pm.