Thistle assistant boss Stuart ‘Arnie’ Davidson wants to TERMINATE Thistle’s ‘unlucky’ tag as Largs head to Maybole on Saturday.

Living up to his nickname, the ex-Auchinleck hardman is looking to rid Largs of their weaknesses, and be ‘more ruthless’ in attack, in the 2pm kick-off at Ladywell Stadium.

And Stuart hopes the real Largs Thistle ‘will be back’ for this weekend’s encounter! It is a big match for the Barrfields side after slipping to bottom of the Stagecoach First Division following a 1-0 defeat to Cumbernauld as Thistle blew a number of great openings.

Speaking after the match, Stuart said: “I am afraid manager Bryan Slavin and me do not do ‘unlucky’. I’d say we deserved to win the game, but we never took our chances and we could have done better for their goal. We have addressed that with the players, and we won’t be feeling sorry for ourselves, we need to pick up and move on.

“I wouldn’t say we were unlucky, we had it in our hands to take the chances and prevent the goals, so we must do better.

“We look after ourselves, and we look at our own performances. They had two chances, we had six or seven, and we didn’t make the most of it. We are really disappointed not to have got three points from the game.

I don’t think we organised quickly enough for their goal. The big centre half came up for Cumbernauld, and the defence didn’t deal with it, to swap players and say who was on who, we were caught sleeping.

“I think Cumbernauld restricted us a bit in the second half, and we didn’t make the most of the opportunities we had to create chances, and we didn’t get the crosses in.

“We have to take these chances, and be more ruthless in front of goal. After the last two games, we have three points, it should be six points if we went about it the right way. You have to get the points on the board as early as you can, as you get more desperate as the games tick down, and Saturday was a missed opportunity.” Largs manager Bryan Slavin said: “We can’t criticise the boys too much as there was plenty of effort, and we should have won the game. We need to find a plan B, and need to find a different approach, as we ran out of ideas in the last twenty minutes.

“Maybole’s statistics show they have scored 42 goals, and conceded 33, which shows you that they have something going forward. They are maybe not as strong at the back, and it is the kind of opposite to us, we have not scored many, but not conceded many either in relation to the league. We are starting to put a game plan together and I am pretty sure we will be ready for what they have got, but we are going down there looking for maximum points.

“We definitely need to be more clinical. We took a few of our chances against Ardeer, but we didn’t take any against Cumbernauld. Not scoring is what gets you hung in this league - that is what gets you relegated. We need to address this pretty quickly. In the second half against Cumbernauld, our approach was too similar, and we kept knocking on the door hoping that there would be an opening.

“We need to be more direct and test their defence. There are jerseys up for stake for the Maybole game, specially coming off a defeat.

“It is front foot all the time as far as Largs is concerned, and whether it is soaking up pressure and hitting on the break, or all out attack, we are going in with a positive frame of mind, and three points is a must for us on Saturday. As the games start to tick down, it reaches closer to the desperation stage, so we need to get the points in the bag now, but I am sure we have what it takes.

“And Stuart is right - we don’t do unlucky here. It doesn’t matter if refereeing decisions don’t go our way, we have to be better than that, and have to win by our own force of will and character, so that whatever happens from a refereeing point of view, that doesn’t matter, we have to take care of ourselves and get on with winning the game first and foremost.” * The Largs Thistle team bus for Maybole leaves Barrfields Park at 11.45am on Saturday. To book a seat, contact Don on 675405.