Bonnyrigg Rose are in fine fettle ahead of crunch play-off

Keiran McGachie is in confident mood. Picture: Joe Gilhooley LRPS

The Midlothian outfit face East Kilbride at K-Park tomorrow afternoon in the first leg of the Pyramid play-off after finishing bottom of League Two on goal difference.

Last Saturday's 1-0 victory at Stranraer - their third win on the trot - wasn't enough to leapfrog Forfar, who drew 0-0 against Stirling Albion as the Loons secured their place in Scottish football's fourth tier next season. Both clubs finished on 36 points.

Rose were deducted six points in November for breaching SPFL rules due to the gradient of their New Dundas Park pitch, but have since had their Bronze Licence reinstated by the SFA after it was downgraded to Entry Level. Their pitch will be levelled over the summer following a successful fundraising campaign to the tune of £100,000.

And McGachie insists Jonny Stewart's side are confident they will take to their pristine new surface in July having retained their SPFL status with victory over the Lowland League champions.

The 32-year-old striker said: "First and foremost our squad doesn't believe in the play-off system. It should be East Kilbride going up, they beat the Highland League side and should progress with us relegated. That said, I'm obviously delighted we have a second chance. We finished the season on a high with three good wins and had we not had the six-point deduction, we would have been safe. So, there's still a wee bit bitterness there. But we've really picked up lately.

"It's been a tricky season generally; Calum Elliot was sacked, our chairman Charlie Kirkwood passed away, the six-point deduction, all the fundraising for the new pitch - it's just been a bit chaotic. And to finish bottom by nine goals, it's hard to take.

"But in terms of recent performances, we're in really good form, we're scoring goals all across the pitch and defending well. Jonny has come in and I think we've seen that new manager bounce. It's just come a game too late unfortunately."

Nonetheless, East Kilbride will be no pushovers as McGachie was keen to stress. The South Lanarkshire club missed out on promotion this time last year when they lost 5-3 on aggregate to Stranraer and will be desperate for a different outcome this time round.

"I think they've probably got a budget akin to League 1 - they've got some cracking players and play a really nice brand of football," he said. "But Jonny is a very intelligent manager, he knows the Lowland League very well having come in from Tranent, so he'll know how he wants to line up to stop them.

"Our changing room is very happy for the pressure to be all on them. If they want to make noise then that's fine. It is a two-legged affair so we'll see what the result is on Saturday and then we get them back to New Dundas next week. East Kilbride will know what we're about so I expect they'll want to try and kill the tie at home. It's up to us to not let that happen.

"We just need to make sure we survive, have a reset in the summer with the new pitch, a young squad and with Jonny at the helm."