East Kilbride boss says win over Braves would mean 'one hand on the trophy'

Mick Kennedy admits victory for East Kilbride over their nearest rivals Caledonian Braves this weekend would effectively put one hand on the Lowland League trophy.

And the Kilby gaffer hasn’t held back on his thoughts about the Braves’ Alliance Park pitch ahead of Saturday’s showdown.

Kilby thrashed East Stirlingshire 6-1 on Friday night to go four points clear of Braves at the summit with three games in hand.

The sides now meet at Alliance Park for a top-of-the-table clash and Kennedy reckons he can’t see his charges slipping up in their title defence if they dispose of Ricky Waddell’s men.

Kennedy, whose side have only lost twice all season, said: “If we win on Saturday it would put us seven clear with three games in hand, so it would take an absolute collapse for us not to win the league at that stage.

“I think Caley Braves would need to win every game between now and the end of the season as well and I can’t see either of those things happening.

“We’ve only lost two games in all competitions since September – Falkirk and Queen’s Park in the cups – so we’ve been on a good run. With how well we’ve done in the senior cups [reaching the SPFL Trust Trophy semi-final] we are a wee bit behind.

“We will try to win the game but I wouldn’t be overly worried if we didn’t, with the number of games in hand we have and how strong we are looking.”

Kilby did lose their previous league meeting with Braves, going down 2-0 at K-Park in September, but they got their revenge in a 5-0 triumph at home in the Scottish Cup second round in October.

And ahead of the latest clash, Kennedy took aim at Braves’ home pitch, insisting that conquering their ‘shambles’ of a surface will be their biggest challenge.

He added: “It will be a difficult