Rutherglen Glencairn assistant hails walking wounded ahead of crunch league match

Rutherglen Glencairn assistant manager Joe Pryce is hopeful his team can replenish after a bruising Kilmarnock Pie West of Scotland Football League Cup exit to Arthurlie.

Glens suffered a 5-0 loss to Conference A opposition this week as attentions quickly turn to their Premier Division survival.

With manager Willie Harvey also serving a touchline ban, Pryce was the man in the dugout and had to search for players.

No subs were named on the bench and three starting players weren't even fit to play. But they had to compete in order to fulfil Wednesday's fixture.

Taking on Glenafton Athletic on Saturday afternoon as they look to move clear of the relegation zone - sitting one point above that area in 13th - the Glens number two knows League Cup action was a tough ask.

He said: "It was a fixture we had to fulfil and that is what we did. We only really had eight fit players and another three came off the treatment table to ensure we could play.

"I am not going to be critical of the players. They did what they had to do. We now put this one behind us and move on to league business.

"The fixtures are there and we need to take them as they come. It just so happened when this one came, we were short in numbers.

"But that is it done now. I am not going to be critical of the guys and I thank the players who were there for it. They gave everything they had.

"It's done. We forget about it and move to the league. We went to Clydebank and took a few of our u21s with us, but we couldn't do that in the cup because of the rules.

"That's why we only had 11 bodies. For now, everything is in our hands. If we do our business, we don't have to worry about the teams below us."

Follow Lanarkshire Live Sport onTwitter via@LanLiveSport, like us onF