Carluke Rovers boss Colin Slater has club backing

Last Saturday’s 2-1 home defeat by Larkhall Thistle (report on P39) means that Rovers haven’t won in their first six Central Division 1 matches this campaign and sit third bottom – in the relegation zone – with just two points.

But Malky is refusing to press the panic button.

“Nobody is hurting any more than Colin about our poor run,” said the fedora-wearing supremo.

“Colin is an extremely hard worker who has my full backing.

“If you look back over the three years Colin has been in charge of Carluke Rovers, it has been a very successful period.

“Every team is likely to go through a few dips and nobody is working any harder than Colin to rectify this poor run.

“We don’t like the poor results we’ve had recently, but we are where we are and we’re working hard to turn the corner.”

Malky’s confidence in Colin would seem to be well vindicated, as the former Lanark United star has largely been a revelation as Rovers gaffer since taking over in May 2011.

He guided Rovers to the 2011-2012 Central Division 2 title in his first season in charge, earning the club promotion to Central Division 1 in the following campaign.

Slater added to his growing reputation as a boss by earning a top half finish in the higher league in 2012-2013, before the club made a bold promotion bid last season but finally missed out by finishing fifth.

So the poor start to the new season has come as a surprise to Rovers followers used to success in the Slater managerial era.

“I have every faith that we have the right people here to climb the table,” Malky added.

“I still believe we can do well this term because we have a better team than last season.”

Malky said that one possible reason for the disappointing results so far in this campaign could be the fact that – unlike last season – Rovers haven’t played friendly matches in addition to their league fixtures in the 2014-2015 campaign.

He added: “We haven’t been able to play additional friendlies this season due to the amount of injuries we’ve had. I think that has definitely affected our league form, as we’ve been unable to give guys coming back from injuries the vital game time which can be so important to players returning to action after layoffs.”