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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Paul Thomson

East Kilbride Thistle boss: Blame me for heavy defeats in West of Scotland League

Garry O’Hanlon held us hands up and admitted “I got it wrong” after East Kilbride Thistle were thrashed 6-1 by Larkhall Thistle.

The Showpark gaffer saw his side suffer a sobering defeat at home on Saturday, off the back of a heavy 4-1 defeat away to Lanark United last midweek.

And rookie boss O’Hanlon, who took the reins in the summer after stepping up to replace Alan Paterson, admits the past couple of games have been a learning curve for him.

He admitted: “I got it wrong with a few things with way we were setup and stuff like that, it wasn’t great.

“After a few draws I changed things to try and go for the win and it backfired on me a bit, to be honest. That’s a learning curve for myself.

“Larkhall were clinical and we didn’t create many chances either so it was tough.

“I don’t know if we are lacking in a bit of confidence at the moment.

“It was the same against Lanark. We were okay for 45 minutes and then they scored early in the second half and that knocked us.

“I’ve got no complaints and the better team won on both occasions.

“The blame is definitely on me for that. It’s a sore one but we just have to focus on the next game now.

“I’ll take it on the chin and get the boys going again.”

It doesn’t get any easier for the Jags with a daunting Junior Cup trip to West of Scotland Premier Division side Glenafton Athletic the challenge facing them on Saturday.

O’Hanlon knows the Ayrshire cracks with be huge favourites for the first round tie and that will relieve some of the pressure.

However, he warned his squad need to brush up in training to prepare themselves for the task ahead.

He added: “It will be a big challenge for us and we will go in there as heavy underdogs.

“They have a strong side, a good management team as well, so we need to get things ironed out before then.

“It’s a game nobody is expecting us to win because of how far ahead of us they are [in terms of divisions], so we just have to treat it like another game and try to get the momentum going again.

“We want to do our best to go and compete with them.

“In our recent league games before last week, we were playing well enough but just not being clinical. We are still a work in progress.”

Follow Lanarkshire Live Sport on Twitter via @LanLiveSport, like us on Facebook or find us on Instagram for the latest sports news, pictures and video.

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