Will the real Largs Thistle please stand up?

Largs face a challenging trip to second placed Irvine Meadow on Saturday in the McBookie.com Premier Division.

A big improvement is required on recent displays, and assistant boss Martin Crawford was furious at the poor level of performance against lowly Petershill on Saturday.

The Barrfields side recorded an impressive 7-0 victory against the Medda earlier in the season but have been out of sorts in recent weeks.

Since the hugely impressive 5-0 drubbing of Kilwinning Rangers in the Scottish Cup quarter final last month, Largs have looked a shadow of themselves.

As well as looking very shaky at times in defence, their normal flowing football style has deserted them.

In their last three league games, Largs have conceded nine goals, and scored seven, but secured a late victory against Petershill on Saturday thanks to Mark Millar's impressive 88th minute strike.

But the standard of display was a serious concern for assistant boss Martin Crawford who branded it 'unacceptable' to management and supporters.

He said: "The three points were good but the performance was not acceptable and so way below par.

"I know we have a depleted team at the moment in some positions but the level of performance against Petershill was just not good enough and everyone knows it.

"We need to show more incisive passes and be more penetrating.

"At half-time I couldn't see where a victory was going to come from - we weren't creating chances.

"Although we scored two goals from well created moves, we didn't see enough of that throughout the match, and we should have been more pressing during the game."

With the big Scottish Cup semi final looming against Hurlford at the end of the month, defender Nicky Jamieson and winger Ben Black are still out of action and remain injury concerns.

But Largs have to concentrate on a a tricky match against an Irvine side who will be seeking revenge for their drubbing earlier this season.

Crawford said: "Meadow have had a resurgence - I still think we can win it and we will prepare for it as we do every game and we have to hope that the proper Largs turn up this time.

"Every one of the boys knows their value in the team and we need to perform better.

"Ben Black getting some ultrasound on Monday and is resting in the hope that he can return to training. Nicky Jamieson is in the same boat and he going to try and do some training this week.

"We need to get back to playing the way we were. Saturday's performance against Petershill was not enough for us and not good enough for the supporters.

"It was totally the opposite of what we normally do and it was disappointing."

"We need to perform a lot better and we want to see a big difference against Meadow - there better be."

The Thistle assistant boss praised the goalscorers on Saturday and said: "Graham Muir did well and made the gamble with the run and sometimes you have to do that. Mark Millar can hit a shot with very little backlift and we encourage him to make the most of these chances." Largs lost out 2-1 at Irvine Meadow in a close fought encounter last season and will be looking to make amends. Meadow, who were bottom of the league earlier in the season, have gone on an amazing run of games, recording nine wins out of ten in the Premier Division, and will provide a very testing challenge for Largs this weekend.

Thistle, sitting on 34 points, have four games in hand on Meadow who are sitting with 44 points.

Largs will be looking for a much better display and it will be their last game before the big two legged Macron Scottish Cup semi final encounter with Hurlford United.