Blantyre Vics boss will field strongest team possible in cup clash

Blantyre Vics boss John Gibson intends to field his strongest possible team against St Anthony’s in the Scottish Junior Cup second round and go as far as he can in the competition.

Vics are on a rich vein of form and grabbed their third win in a row – and fourth from five games in the West of Scotland First Division – on Saturday as they beat Neilston 3-1 at home.

After conceding an early opener, goals from captain Craig Kerr, Scott Jarvie and Andy Gallacher put Vics second in the table, and Gibson is delighted with how things have gone so far.

He said: “We were 1-0 down, we lost a bad goal in four minutes through a mistake that we’ve not been doing – we’ve only conceded four goals this season – but the boys bounced back.

“We weren’t great, Neilston were the better team for 25 or 30 minutes and had us on the back-foot, but then we got into the game and got the equaliser.

“We were excellent in the second half and deserved the 3-1 victory in the end, so I’m delighted with that.

“We’re doing all right, we’ve started quite well, but there’s a long way to go.

“But I’m happy in the fact that it’s a lot of new players – 10 or 11, we only kept five or six – and we’re a new team, with a lot of young players in there.

“We’ve gelled well, had a good pre-season and carried that into the league.

“There’s a long way to go, with a lot of hard games coming up, but four wins out of five is a good return, and we’re happy with that.

“We’re sitting second, we have a game in hand, and if we win that we got top. That’s not a bad return from five or six games.”

That sets Vics up well for a trip to Second Division St Anthony’s, and Gibson is determined to do well.

He said: “That’s three wins in a row and we’ve got the Scottish Junior Cup on