Penicuik have quality, but not the fight

CRAIG MEIKLE reckons Penicuik have to learn to become better "scrappers" if they want to climb out of the Premier Division.

The Midlothian side showed they can hold their own against Super League opposition by dumping Lochee out of the East of Scotland Cup a fortnight ago. But, back on Premier Division duties last weekend, they made heavy weather of beating Kinnoull despite home advantage.

"Against Lochee everyone did their job and that made that game feel relatively easy despite the fact we were up against a Super League side," said joint-manager Meikle.

"To be honest, myself and Brian (Ryrie) were dreading the game against Kinnoull as we were worried the players would be thinking they were big shots now. We never started the game well and Kinnoull deserved their lead at half-time but, fortunately, we upped our game in the second half and got the win.

"To be honest, we always tend to play better against better teams, it's the games we think we should win that we struggle in. We need to learn to fight and scrap better if we want to get out of this division."

Tomorrow Penicuik are away to Broxburn, a team that certainly likes to get the ball down and pass it.

"We've then got Oakley away in a cup game next Saturday so it's two tough games in a row for us," added Meikle, who also believes his team have a genuine chance of picking up some silverware between now and the end of the campaign.

"Of the five teams through to the quarter-finals in the East of Scotland Cup, none of them are Super League sides. We've got a chance to get our hands on the trophy."