Gretna Boss Hopes For Win Over Athletic

Jan 22 2010 by Kieran Westbrook, Dumfries Standard Friday

GRETNA boss Stuart Rome is hoping two friendly wins this week will lead to a third tomorrow.

The Black and Whites notched up a staggering 6-1 win over Westmorland League leaders Keswick.

That win was followed by a 2-1 victory over Threave Rovers on Tuesday night.

And Rome reckons those two wins will make the difference against Leith Athletic tomorrow.

He said: “It’s been a bit of a relief getting some games under our belts.

“I’m always confident in the abilities of my players, but it had been a long time since we played.

“Winning those two games will definitely help us on Saturday.”

There were six different scorers for Gretna in their 6-1 drubbing of Keswick.

But Rome still wasn’t pleased with the performance.

“You look at that scoreline and think ‘you’ve got to be pleased with that’, but to be honest, there were a lot of things that weren’t right that day,” he said.

“And I’ve told the lads that.

“But our win over Threave was us back to our best, and I really hope we can bring that performance into the Leith game.”

Rome sees tomorrow’s tussle with Leith as a must-win game.

Fourth place Gretna are six points ahead of Leith in the East League, although the Edinburgh outfit have a game in hand.

And Rome believes taking down Leith would give his side a big boost.

He said: “It really is a massive match.

“They’re the inform team of the league right now and we’ll have to be at our best to beat them.

“But winning those friendly could well give us the edge on the day.”