Published: Wednesday, 30th September, 2009 4:00pm

NEILSTON BOSS IN SHOCK SHAKE UP

NEILSTON boss Colin Lindsay has confirmed a shake-up of the Neilston backroom staff with assistant Kenny Gillies re-registering as a player at the Brig O'Lea.

Gillies will return to his place in the midfield, with former Largs Thistle manager Archie Halley taking up the reins as the new assistant manager.

Halley boasts a vast pedigree in the Junior game as a double Scottish Junior Cup winner, as well as being the assistant manager at Keanie Park when Johnstone Burgh made it to the Scottish Cup final in 2000.

Gaffer Lindsay has welcomed the move as he looks to add a little extra experience to his fairly youthful squad.

He said: "Archie played alongside me at Johnstone Burgh and Cumnock and brings with him a lot of experience of his own and hopefully some new ideas.

"Kenny is maybe at that age where he feels he can still play.

"He'll bring some experience into the squad which is something that we may have been lacking."

He added: "We have a fairly young team, 13 of the boys are under 23.

"They're all well schooled though; David Armour used to play at Dunfermline.

"He's very good on the ball and if he does well for us then other senior clubs will be back in, sniffing around him.

"Niall Blair is another player who has done well for us since coming in last Christmas. He is a wee bit quiet on the park but he has all the attributes to go back up stairs to the seniors as well."

Neilston travel down to Merksworth Park this Saturday to face struggling Dalry Thistle in a bottom- of-the-table clash.

Jags gaffer John Garroch was thought to have resigned as manager following his side's 3-0 defeat at home to rivals Whitletts Victoria two weeks ago but after protests from players and committee members, he returned for Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Glenafton.

Dalry may be full of suprises at the moment but Lindsay insists they will be ready for anything when they meet at the weekend.

He said: "We had someone there on Saturday so we'll have a dossier on them.

"We also played them in a tournament at the start of the season.

"They came and played 4-5-1, and we're hard to break down.

"The big lad up front, Nick Cusack will definitely be a danger man for us.

"He's a good player, I watched him against the Meadow as well and I was very impressed.

"We're looking forward to playing them again. As of Monday I will have a full squad of players to pick from for the first time this season so we'll prepare properly, go down there and have a go at them."

Saturday's kick off is scheduled for 2pm and the supporters' bus leaves from Brig O'Lea at 1pm.

Neilston are holding a quiz night at Neilston Bowling Club this Saturday and are looking for teams of four to enter at a cost of £26 per team.

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