16-05-2025
Greenock Juniors boss demands one last push as promotion battle goes to the wire
GARY FLEMING has urged his Greenock Juniors side to give it one last push to drag themselves over the line and seal promotion to the Second Division.
Come full-time on Saturday, Greenock will either be celebrating promotion success or bemoaning a very near miss in a dramatic West of Scotland season finale.
There are a lot of ifs, buts and maybes, but essentially the scenario is this.
Firstly, and most importantly, Nock must win against Lugar Boswell on Saturday to stand any chance of gaining promotion.
Fleming says it's all built up to this moment (Image: alex craig) They then need a favour either Kilsyth Athletic or Threave Rovers slip up in their final matches.
Kilsyth, who are on an eight-game winning streak, will likely require only a draw on Saturday against Glasgow Perthshire to confirm their promotion.
However a draw will not suffice if Greenock can don their shooting boots and win by eight goals or more, overturning Kilsyth's current goal difference advantage.
Threave, who have made light of their fixture congestion with wins on Saturday, Monday and Wednesday, must win at home against the already relegated Vale of Leven to secure promotion.
A draw or loss for the Castle Douglas club would open the door for Greenock.
As it stands Nock are in fourth place, two points behind second placed Kilsyth and one behind Threave, who won away to Glasgow United on Monday evening and followed that up with victory on the road against another already-relegated side, Irvine Vics, just 48 hours later - with the latter result pushing Greenock out of the automatic promotion places.
And Fleming insists his side have been working towards this moment since they reported for pre-season last June.
He told the Tele: 'Saturday's game is the culmination of our season's efforts. With promotion on the line this is the moment we've been working towards since pre-season.
"We need one final push for three points. Our performances recently have been excellent and the atmosphere in the camp is relaxed."
Nock will need to have their shooting boots on (Image: Alex Craig) Greenock faced off against Lugar two weeks ago, and came away with all three points.
After a difficult first hour, Nock found the quality required to record 3-1 win against difficult opponents, who appointed former Irvine Vics boss Stuart MacDuff as their new manager this week.
Ideally they will want that quality to be on display from kick off as was the case last Saturday against Finnart.
That performance brought home the fact that when Nock achieve the right balance between the intensity levels and the technical quality in the squad, they are as good as any team in this league - and an enjoyable watch as well.
And Fleming wants his side to give it one last push to try and get his side over the line and out of the Third Division.
"We need one last top performance and we'll see where we stand at the final whistle," he said.
"But we can't underestimate Lugar. They have a striker who has netted over 20 goals this season and their team will get a boost from their new manager.
"We need to be ready to meet and face this challenge head on."
The squad will still missing Dec McCormick who is struggling to shake off a back problem and Ross Canavan who is still nursing an ankle ligaments injury.
Ryan Corr, who had to be substituted on Saturday towards the end of the first half, should be fine for Saturday's squad.
Kick-off at Ravenscraig is at 2pm.
Greenock are sponsored by Saveheat, Keystore Cowal View, Safer Group, The Lighthouse Bar, McGills, ARC and Blairs.
