Rutherglen Glencairn boss Joe Pryce says his side will know exactly where they are in the West of Scotland First Division title race by the time they play rivals Shotts on May 4.
Glens moved up to second place in the table with a 2-0 home win over St Roch’s on Saturday, leaving them three points behind leaders Drumchapel United and one ahead of third-placed Petershill, with Drum having two games in hand.
Pryce’s side can be caught by Ashfield, Shotts and Blantyre Vics, who have one, five and two games in hand over them, respectively, and some of those games will be played between now and when Glens are next in action.
Though Glencairn are on a seven-game unbeaten run, with five straight wins, Pryce doesn’t believe they will still be second when the dust settles, but will know what they need to do to grab one of the three promotion slots.
Pryce said: “We’ll know exactly where we are and what we’ve got to do by the time we face Shotts.
“I know we’re in second place just now, but I don’t expect us to be there by the time the Shotts game comes around.
“We’ll also need to get past Shotts, who have been excellent and probably the most consistent team in the league.
“Some of the teams are playing three or four times before we play again, and there are so many contenders still in it.
“Drumchapel, Petershill, Blantyre, Ashfield, Kilwinning are still in there.
“There are six or seven teams with a realistic shot at it, and over the next fortnight we and everybody else will know exactly what they have to do.
“It’s up to others to catch us. I’ve always said I’d rather have the points than games in hand, so it’s up to them to get their points in.
“If they’re good enough to get them, then fine.
“The only disappointment for me is that the league isn’t going to finish on the same day.”
Ryan McManus opened the scoring in three minutes on Saturday, before adding a penalty in 40 minutes, after Matty Gear had been fouled.
Pryce said: “We’ve been performing well recently and on Saturday we had to play well to get by a really tough St Roch’s team who are a good side themselves and I think they had been eight unbeaten.
“So for us to get past them and keep a clean sheet was really positive for us. We defended really well in the second half and kept their chances to a minimum.
“We’re delighted with the current run, but we know we haven’t earned anything yet and have to keep going.”
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