Promotion on his mind

The 40-year-old had a baptism of fire at the weekend – taking full charge of the team for the visit of giants Irvine Meadow in the Scottish Junior Cup fourth round, with manager Sinclair on holiday.

But Mooney’s just pleased to have a new challenge to face.

He said: “When I got the call about the job here I was obviously delighted. It’s an exciting opportunity for me, I looked at their position in the league and, at the time, they were still in the Scottish Cup. Everybody’s been great since I arrived.

“It would’ve been good to get a run going in the cup, cup runs breed confidence, but when you come up against Irvine Meadow I don’t think anyone would expect much.”

Rangers went down 3-1 to The Medda on Saturday, but Mooney believes there were positives to be taken.

He continued: “Going into it I hadn’t even seen the team play. In the first-half they really came at us and it was disappointing to lose an early goal. But when we fought back to 2-1 they got a bit of a fright.”

Mooney joins the Duncansfield outfit with a wealth of experience in both senior and junior football.

He has turned out for Falkirk, Dumbarton and Stenhousemuir and most recently, in the Junior grade, for Bo’ness United and Camelon Juniors.

He also had a short spell as assistant manager at Berwick Rangers before returning to Camelon as assistant and coach.

Mooney added: “We’ve got a talented bunch of players here. The guys want to learn, you get a feel for that. Sometimes you go to a club and the older players aren’t interested in trying new things.

“But there’s a good atmosphere here, a strong unity in the dressing room. We’re definitely looking for promotion. If we can go on a run then you don’t know what can happen, winning the league would be a great boost.”