Consistency will be St Cuthbert Wanderers New Year’s resolution.
The South of Scotland League champs saw wholesale changes over the summer, with Josh Gardner replacing Dalbeattie Star-bound Jordan Williamson.
And the squad overhaul that followed has resulted in plenty of ups and downs for the new manager.
He said: “I’ve enjoyed it – but I would enjoy it a lot more if we were a bit more consistent!
“We’ve been inconsistent but that’s to be expected as it’s a brand new team and a brand new group of boys. Jordan and his staff had come to the end of a journey and moved on.
“When you’re putting a group of 20 or 22 players together, getting that consistency is probably going to take a wee bit of time – but it’s probably taking longer than I would have liked.
“Hopefully it starts to gel together. We also need a wee bit of luck in terms of injuries and player availability.
“Hopefully in the New Year we get a few back from injury. We’re hoping to extend the loans from Queen of the South and all the players are happy to do so.
“If we can get our players back we’ll be sitting a bit more pretty.
“We want a selection headache, which we’ve not had, as it’s good for the players, good for the team and good for me.”
This season has been the first in the South of Scotland League for Gardner, who had coached mainly in the central belt before taking charge at Kirkcudbright.
He added: “Everyone’s been really nice and there’s a good standard of players.
“We’ve been to some nice pitches – I can’t say we’ve been to a bad one.
“I’ve heard stories that some of them are bad so maybe we’ve just got lucky and timed it right.
“The guys at St Cuthberts – Tracey and Mick McGarrie and all the other guys – are brilliant. They can’t do enough for you, they treat you really well.
“I’ve been really impressed with it, I just hope in 2023 we can reward the fans, players and committee a bit more with some success on the pitch – be that trophies or better performance levels.
“It’s down to us as players and coaches to achieve that.”
Saints return to action on January 7 when they face Lochmaben.
