Rutherglen Glencairn reaching the Scottish Cup first round is a 'proud moment'

Joe Pryce says reaching the Scottish Cup first round is a proud moment for everybody associated with Rutherglen Glencairn.

Glens on Saturday beat East of Scotland Premier League side Hutchison Vale 2-0 in the second preliminary round, gaining them entry to the senior Scottish Cup for the first time in their history.

Humble Pryce knows it’s a brilliant achievement for him to have guided Glencairn into the competition, but says everybody at the club deserves huge praise.

He said: “I’m really proud. To be manager of this group of players and to have the coaching staff, committee and fans behind me is brilliant.

“It’s a good place to be in. You would always rather be in the cup competitions than not, but it’s a really proud moment for the club, when you see the first-round draw, and our name is in the hat.

“It was just terrific, really terrific, and I’m so pleased and proud for the club.

“We’re in a good place at the moment but we’re not going to rest on our laurels at all.

“We know we’re going to have to keep working really hard every Monday and Wednesday in training.

“We’ve got to keep grafting and rolling our sleeves up with the players, because we see how much they’re improving, but they have a long way to go – and so do we, as a club.

“There’s more that we can achieve, and that’s what we’re going to try and do.”

Glencairn move on with their season and their Scottish Cup involvement has seen them knocked off the top of the West of Scotland First Division, two points behind Arthurlie, but with a game in hand.

Sixth-placed Thorniewood are visitors on Saturday and Pryce reckons a cracker could be in store.

He said: “We’ve got Thorniewood to deal with this Saturday first, and that’s another really tough game.

“Davie Gormley