Dalbeattie Star boss Eddie Warwick reckons his team is ahead of where he expected them to be when he took charge.
But he’s warned fans not to expect a dramatic squad overhaul in the New Year as the side battles to avoid relegation from the Lowland League.
Warwick took over at Islecroft in September with the side having managed just one point under boss Jordan Williamson.
Since then they have added a further four points, although they are still bottom of the table going into Christmas.
Warwick said: “I would say we’re ahead of schedule with where we’d thought we’d be in regard to the plan we put on the table with regard to different stages.
“That’s without being cheeky and derogatory to the squad we’ve got – a lot of players came in from the South of Scotland League and the Lowland League is a different kettle of fish. When we took over we had one point after 12 games and now we have five points.
“We’ve changed it up a bit, we’ve improved the group of players and we’ve managed to grab points so I think we’ve done a damned sight better than we thought we would be doing.”
Warwick has already brought in a number of new players including Hamilton forward Myles Gaffney and St Mirren youngster Gavin Gallagher.
But anyone expecting a further influx of signings may be disappointed.
Warwick said: “There’s people out there but they need to want to come to Dalbeattie – they’d be coming here to roll their sleeves up to survive in the league.
“People say you’ll get it sorted in the transfer window but it doesn’t really work like that. When you look at the table and see we’re at the bottom, we’re not attractive.
“I strongly believe we’re very professional. We have boys on loan and clubs love the fact we can provide GPS vests and give them data.
“We can guarantee that we look after players and also guarantee game time which, perhaps, no one else in the league can do but that doesn’t mean to say they will want to come in January.
“We’ve brought in seven players and lost five. The policy was one in, one out – not six or seven out, bring two in and go light for a few months. That can’t happen at this level.
“The majority of players will need to stay with us for a significant amount of time until we can get suitable replacements. It’s a very delicate situation.”
Saturday’s trip to Civil Service Strollers fell victim to the weather, as did Wednesday night’s game against Celtic B.
Ahead of their next game – a local derby at Gretna 2008 on Hogmanay – Star are two points behind second bottom Edinburgh University, who have played a game more, and nine points behind East Stirlingshire.
Warwick said: “We’re going to have to grind out another four or five wins and that might be enough – but I’m not saying it will be as you can never tell in football. Edinburgh Uni might go on a run of six wins and we can’t catch them.
“Am I confident of getting a better team on the pitch and doing better than we were before we came in? Absolutely. Was I confident when I came in I could change things around and make it better? I was – and I have done. We’ve got the points on the board to prove that.
“Am I confident of survival? I’d like to think so but there’s a difference between competing in the Lowland League and competing and getting points.
“I think we’ve got a chance as long as the players believe and do their bit.
“I’m very positive and confident but we’re not going to get hit with the big stick if we can’t stay up. It’s not really our team – all we’ve done is give ourselves a fighting chance and if we go down we’re going down swinging.”
