Surviving will be far from stroll for service

Aitchison is well aware that at present, with ten points from ten games and occupying third bottom spot, his team are still battling in the relegation zone and tomorrow's game against Tynecastle away at Fernieside is of vital importance to both clubs. Tynecastle are only three points ahead of the Strollers, who do have a game in hand on their Capital rivals. This should ensure a cup-tie type atmosphere when they clash tomorrow.

"We need to start picking up points quickly and putting them in the bag," stressed Aitchison. "It is very tight in the bottom half of the table and we need to show some consistency and discipline to make sure that we move away from the bottom two clubs. I have to get that winning mentality into all of my players because at the moment we look nervous at times, even although we have some very experienced characters in our squad."

The Strollers conceded a late goal last Saturday in their 3-2 defeat to Lothian Thistle and Aitchison said: "We played really well for 60 minutes and were leading 2-1 then we lost a silly goal which let Lothian back into the game. Lothian's winning goal was a great strike which nobody could anything about.

"Having been out of management for about a year the last couple of games have reminded me what I had been missing. It's great to be back involved with what I regard as a great club where I had worked before with their U19 team. I have inherited a good hard working bunch of players and the turn-outs at training have been magnificent which is really encouraging."

Turning his attention to tomorrow's vital Premier Division clash, Aitchison added: "Tynecastle will have had a massive lift from beating Whitehill Welfare and reaching the Image Printers Cup Final last Saturday. I know a lot of their players who Murray Balloch and David Bingham have playing nice football.

"Games between the Strollers and Tynecastle are usually close affairs and I know from my experience at Whitehill when we had striker Wayne McIntosh at Rosewell that he is a Tynecastle player who always scores goals. He will be a real threat to us but he is not their only threat with Steve McCormack and Paul Devlin also both proven goalscorers. However, I reckon that Tynecastle have some weak points which we intend to exploit."

The Strollers will be without the suspended duo of Russell Hogarth and Peter Newby, while both John Dunn and Alan Wilson are unavailable although new signing Ross Millar comes into contention.

Tynecastle, meanwhile, enjoyed their cup semi-final victory against Whitehill last weekend. "The players listened to Bingo [David Bingham] and me at half-time when we were a goal down and we also changed our style so that result has given us something to build on," said manager Murray Balloch. "Our players enjoyed their cup win but I have stressed to them to focus on Civil Service Strollers which, just maybe, is more important because we want to pick up all three points. I don't like looking at the league table and seeing where Tynecastle are so we have to start climbing.

"I watched the Strollers before Gary took over and they seem to be hard working with a good team spirit and they never know when they are beaten.

"They will be hard to break down so we face a massive task. We need to start the game at a high tempo and not give the ball away because the Strollers will have something to prove to their new manager.

"These are always tight games and I don't expect anything else tomorrow."

Wayne Sproule and Robbie Dunn, both long-term absentees, are back to full fitness and in contention for places in the starting line-up.

The game kicks off at Fernieside Recreation Ground at 2.30pm.