Kilsyth Rangers out to turn up heat on rivals

Keith Hoggs’s side should have been playing in the fourth round of the Scottish Junior Cup - but opponents Bonnyrigg Rose’s senior Scottish Cup clash with Hibernian has meant their tie with the East Region champions at Duncansfield has been put back a week.

Instead Rangers will look to reinforce their bid for gain promotion to the Super League Premier Division.

Keith Hogg’s men are three points clear at the top of the First Division and have had a number of boosts recently - surprise defeats for rivals Petershill and Girvan and upheaval at second-placed Shettleston which has been the resignation of the managerial team and possible departure of a number of players.

But Hogg says his side must focus only on their own situation and was disappointed last Saturday’s game with Shotts was off as he was looking to bounce back from a draw with lowly Maryhill last time out.

He said: “It’s important for us to get back on track. You want to get back into the games and get them running and get the boys back on form again.

“Saturday’s going to be vitally important to us. Everybody wants to beat the team at the top of the league.

“But it’s definitely a game we can win and that’s the mindset we’ve got to have.

“There’s a lot of issues happening at Shettleston just now, but we have to let them go and deal with their business and we’ll go and deal with our business. Our focus is widening that gap that’s already there just now.

“Petershill lost two Saturdays ago and Girvan got beaten on Saturday there.

“It’s a very tight league and everybody keeps saying everybody can beat everybody but that’s not the mentality we’ve got.

“We need to keep focussing on one game at a time and on applying ourselves the way we have done in the first half of the season.”