JAMIE McKim hopes his Johnstone Burgh side have set the tone for a successful season after they battled to secure three points and a clean sheet in an opening day 2-0 win over Forth Wanderers at Keanie Park.
Lining up against a ‘stuffy’ Forth side, Burgh were frustrated in a tight first 45 with the visitors happy to sit back and soak up any pressure.
The hosts’ continued pressure was eventually rewarded 10 minutes into the second-half with Ricky McArthur opening the scoring with a well-taken finish.
READ MORE: Jamie McKim demands reaction after Sectional League Cup losses
Robbie McCutcheon doubled Burgh’s lead just after the hour mark after a scramble in the box as McKim’s side got their league campaign up and running with three points.
“Three points and clean sheet is exactly what you’re after to start the season,” McKim told Gazette Sport. “Saying that, we weren’t brilliant. It was one of those days where we knew Forth were never going to allow us to play great football.
“They were stuffy and it was a hard game. The most important thing in those type of matches, though, is to come away with the three points which we did.
“Forth have improved from last year. They’ve got a few decent players and were really hard working. The clean sheet and the win rounded off an ideal opening weekend for us. We’ve set the tone with that win and hopefully it’s a case of start as you mean to go on.”
Burgh will be looking to make it two from two in the league tonight against St Anthony’s at McKenna Park with McKim insisting that, despite the Ants struggling to find any form throughout their Sectional League Cup matches as well as suffering an opening day loss at the weekend, he won’t be taking the Govan side lightly.
“We’re confident going into every game but the Ants will definitely be tough,” McKim said.
“We maybe went into games with the wrong attitude last year and went on to lose matches we should have won and dropped too many silly points over the course.
“We’re looking to right that wrong this year and make sure we approach every game properly.
“The Ants are a stuffy team as well but as long as we approach it right then hopefully we’ll get something out of it.”
Elsewhere, Burgh announced last week that Gary Nugent, Jonny Rawlings and Chris Agnew have all left the club.
McKim added: “Gary was the longest serving player during my time here but both myself and Gary felt that it wasn’t going to work out this season. It was a completely mutual decision and there was no bad feelings there.
CLUB STATEMENT pic.twitter.com/M4lhiwlYfl
— Johnstone Burgh Football Club (@johnstone_burgh) August 1, 2019
“With Jonny, I thought he would have been up for sticking around and challenging but he was wanting more assurances of playing time which we couldn’t give.
“It’s all about attitude this year as I’ve said so I was disappointed that Chris left. He felt that he deserved to play in the Arthurlie game in the league cup. It was only one game into the season and he threw the towel in.
“If he was a bit more patient then I think he could have broke into the team but he didn’t have the right attitude and commitment that we’re after this season.”
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