Barry McLaughlin says even Man City boss Pep Guardiola’s scouting team would struggle to predict how his Thorn side were going to play each week.
But that didn’t stop the Johnstone club dishing out a 6-0 thrashing to BSC Glasgow as they try to keep up with the Fourth Division promotion hopefuls.
St Mirren Hall of Famer McLaughlin was delighted with the all-round performance of his team as they handed BSC their first home defeat of the season.
And he hopes Thorn can continue their fine run of form as they look to stay in the hunt for a promotion spot, despite having to change his starting line-up every single week.
McLaughlin told Renfrewshire Live Sport: “It’s comfortably our best result of the season so far.
“Going into the game they were joint-second and hadn’t lost a single game at home. It was a brilliant performance against a strong team and it was just one of those days when everything clicked for us.
“It’s definitely a morale-boost to win 6-0 away from home and it brings us closer to the promotion places.
“Getting the consistency in our team selection is still the hardest thing for us. We’re having to make multiple changes every single week.
“The plus side to that is no one knows what team we’re going to put out. Even Pep Guardiola’s scouting team would struggle to work out how we’re going to line up each week!
“The boys are working very hard for each other though and hopefully that will continue.”
While Thorn are now up to sixth in the league table, frontrunners Kilsyth Athletic, Threave Rovers and West Park United are showing little sign of slowing down.
McLaughlin hopes the trio slip up sooner or later to allow the Johnstone club a shot at making up early lost ground.
McLaughlin said: “The top teams are quite relentless in this division. It’s a very tough league to make inroads to the top.
“It would certainly be handy if the likes of Kilsyth and Threave dropped some points. Consistency is going to be key for us. We need to be in a position to make up ground when they do eventually drop points.”
This weekend Thorn are in South Challenge Cup action against Ashfield, a Second Division side that just drew with league leaders Renfrew.
McLaughlin is looking forward to the tough test, adding: “Ashfield is a real challenge for us. They’re a few divisions above us, but we’ve given a good account of ourselves against teams above us in the leagues already this season.
“If you can’t be confident going into a game after winning 6-0 then you probably never will be.
“They’ve just drawn with Renfrew though, so we know it’s going to be a tough ask.
“It’s important to test yourself and I’m sure we’ll take lessons from the match, regardless of the result.”
Elsewhere in the Fourth Division, Paisley side St Peter’s excellent start to the season hit a snag as they suffered a 3-0 away defeat at the hands of title hopefuls West Park United.
Meanwhile, Glenvale’s sticky start to the campaign continued as they lost a high-scoring clash 7-4 at home to Rossvale Academy.
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