Rutherglen Glencairn co-boss Joe Pryce says they need to ‘regain their mojo’ as he targets promotion from the West of Scotland First Division.
Pryce says the second half of their league season is almost like a separate group of games as Glencairn target three points at home to Blantyre Vics on January 11.
With nearly a month between now and then, Pryce and co-boss Billy Ogilvie will look to regain a spark that has been missing in recent weeks.
And they will use a friendly game at home to Premier Division Pollok on December 28 to try out some new ideas.
Glencairn fought back to snatch a 2-2 draw at Kirkintilloch Rob Roy on Saturday, and sit third in the table on 26 points, three behind leaders Arthurlie, who have two games in hand, and one behind St Roch’s in second, who have played an extra game and host Cumbernauld United on Saturday.
Pryce’s men, themselves, are one point ahead of Renfrew in fourth place.
“It could be a really valuable point for us in the end on Saturday, because you see how tight our league is,” said Pryce.
“There’s not a lot in it, so every point is crucial, and that could turn out to be a really vital point at the end of the season for us.
“But we know we have to be better than that. Over the last couple of weeks we seem to have dropped our level, we’ve lost our spark, and it’s up to us on the management side to find a way to regain that.
“We don’t have a game for almost a month, and that hasn’t been easy either, because of how disjointed it has been.
“But what it will do is give us time to reassess things, reassess the group we have, and see if we may need to make some changes, to get that spark back.
“We’ll need it for the second half of the season, because this league is going to be so tough, and so tight, that every point is going to be crucial. We need to make sure we’re ready to go, come January 11.
“Third place is a good place to be. We’re still in the promotion spots and we would obviously like to have picked up a few more points in the lead-up to Christmas.
“It’s up to us to get our mojo back for the ‘next campaign’ if you like. This one’s done, we’re now looking into the new year, and we want to be ready for the month of January, really fit and firing, and ready to go.”