ARTHURLIE manager Chris Mackie has urged his players to end the season in style by overtaking South Side rivals Pollok in the Premier Division table.

Lie ensured they will remain in the top flight next year with a 1-1 draw against Glenafton Athletic at Dunterlie Park on Saturday.

With two games to go, Lie can still finish in fifth place and they sit level on points with their big spending rivals having played a game less.

Mackie has targetted overhauling the Newlandsfield side in the final two games and insists that will represent a good season for Lie, given the upheaval caused by changing manager and the injuries and suspensions that have plagued the campaign.

He said: “We need to look up the way in our last two games, my personal target is to try and get to the 30-point mark. If we can get four points in the last two games we’ll have a good chance of finishing fifth, which considering the changes at the club and the selection issues we’ve had would be great.

“I can say that Pollok are working with about double the budget we have. To finish above them would be a great achievement.

“I’ve been on at the players in recent weeks about it. The players know that’s what I want and what we should be aiming for so we’ll see if we can get it.”

Arthurlie’s squad was thin once again on Saturday with eight players out.

With Glenafton in the hunt for the title it was a big ask for Lie’s cobbled together squad to salvage anything from the clash. But they did just that and Mackie revealed he instructed his side not to take any chances in the closing stages having heard that Kilbirnie Ladeside were winning at Kirkintilloch Rob Roy, threatening to keep their hopes of catching Arthurlie alive for another week.

He added: “We were missing eight players so we were struggling again and to be fair I thought it was an even game. I think a draw was probably a fair result, we had heard the Kilbirnie score and knew we only needed a point to make sure we stayed up so in the last 10 minutes we sat in a bit.”