Football: SPL's loss is Bathgate's gain reckons McGonigal

No-one knows Bathgate Thistle's Jim Lister better than McGonigal, who had the player at Camelon initially before joining forces with him again at Berwick Rangers.

And, as the Bo'ness boss prepared to look down both barrels of Lister's shooting boots in the fifth round of the Junior Cup at Creamery Park tomorrow (2.15pm), he heaped praise on his protege.

"No-one needs to tell me about the attributes of Jim Lister, who is probably the best striker in the Super League at the moment," said McGonigal. "He was with me at Camelon and Berwick and I only wish I'd got him at 17 and not 27 as I am sure he'd be playing in the SPL just now. He's at the peak of his career at the moment. I was reading that he's scored 20 goals this season and I can put that into perspective by saying that we're having a fantastic campaign but don't have anyone in double figures."

Lister helped himself to four goals as Bathgate set up tomorrow's tasty tie with a 5-1 victory over Glenrothes last weekend.

"Jim, who's just a big daft laddie, has been texting me quite a bit this week, warning me that he's going to be the man to watch on Saturday," added McGonigal. "The link between the two of us will add spice to what is going to be a huge game.

"Bathgate are probably favourites due to the fact they are a really experienced team – the likes of Andy Carlin, Willie Wilson, Allan Neil and Paul Riley are all seasoned campaigners – but I reckon it will be like a home game for us as we'll probably have 400-500 fans there and will take over the place." Bo'ness suffered their first defeat of the season in the Super League when they went down 2-1 at home to Kelty Hearts last weekend, a slip up that allowed second-placed Newtongrange Star to close the gap on the leaders to just four points. "I'm hoping last Saturday was just a blip," said McGonigal, who watched his side go 1-0 up and then miss a golden opportunity to double their advantage before having Paul Shields sent off. "The fact we lost will have been a wee bit of hope to the other teams in the league but I still say they would all rather be in our position as it is in our hands and winning that title is certainly my priority this season."

In addition to Shields, who is automatically suspended due to that sending off, Bo'ness will also be without Fraser Forrest, who is back in training after his double hernia operation but is not quite ready to return to action. Bathgate manager Graeme Love insists he'll not be paying too much attention to the fact Bo'ness will be going into the game on the back of their first hiccup since losing to Edinburgh United in the League Cup on the opening day of the season. "Bo'ness have had a great season and are sitting at the top of the Super League on merit," said the former Hibs player. "Just because they've lost a game doesn't mean they've become a bad team overnight. When we played them in the league earlier in the season, the match was spoiled by a strong wind and I don't think we got a true gauge between the two teams and we made a couple of mistakes late on that day as we lost 3-0."

On Lister, Love added: "Jim is doing great for us this season but we certainly aren't a one-trick pony. Against Glenrothes last week, we could have had a few more goals from other sources and, while Jim is one of those players who creates chances for himself, other players are also creating opportunities for him."

Elsewhere in the Scottish Junior Cup, Newtongrange Star travel to face Tayport.