Franny Kilpatrick reckons a special dressing room bond can spark a dramatic turnaround in Irvine Vics fortunes this season.
The experienced frontman, who ran the show as Vics thumped Lesmahagow 8-0 on Saturday, insists there's been a major mentality shift in the Westenders' dressing room since the summer.
Two wins in Vics' opening three WoSFL Third Division matches - equaling the number of league games they won during the whole of last year's Conference A campaign - is certainly an encouraging start.
And Kilpatrick firmly believes things can get even better thanks to gaffer Dougie MacDuff and his staff carefully cultivating a squad full of the right characters.
He said: "We've got that togetherness. The dressing room is probably the best I've been in in a long, long time. It's bouncing.
"It's mentality this year. We started early and the management have really got a real belief about the squad.
"Obviously you're going to be a wee bit unhappy when you're not starting. But I think collectively we know there's 16 boys in there and any one of them can start. So we're all going to take our turn.
"Nobody can be disappointed with whatever the starting 11 is. We just do the job the gaffer asks us and we see what the outcome is."
That kind of attitude was certainly evident as Vics steamrolled The Gow in stunning fashion.
Starters Kilpatrick and Shane Jackson each helped themselves to a brace, while Kevin Adam climbed off the bench to bag a double of his own. Fellow sub James Maxwell and summer signing John McLaughlan also got on the scoresheet.
Modest Kilpatrick scooped the man of the match award but insisted: "It was a team performance. The boys are brilliant, easy to work beside. We pressed the ball really well high up the park and I think that's what put them under a lot of pressure.
"Right through the team you can see the confidence growing. Boys want to get on the ball and start playing football. I think that's what the gaffer wants to push on with.
"He's told the players he wants them expressing themselves and that's certainly my game. I like to drop in five yards off the defence, pick the ball up and certainly try and get at my man as much as I can."
Kilpatrick admits results like Saturday's can only breed confidence.
He added: "That kind of result is a statement for the rest of the league so fingers crossed we can push on from that.
"It's the belief in the camp that we can go and run over teams this year and we need to make our place a fortress."
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