Carr hoping to drive Thistle out of relegation zone

Lothian THISTLE are in East of Scotland Seniors Central Taxis Premier Division action tonight when they entertain Vale of Leithen under the floodlights at Saughton Enclosure (kick-off 7.30pm).

Lothian recorded a narrow 1-0 win against Heriot-Watt University at the weekend in the quarter-finals of the League Cup and manager Raymond Carr is optimistic that his side can build on that result to take them away from the relegation zone.

“We never made many mistakes and concentrated for the entire 90 minutes,” stressed Carr.

“In our previous three games we went ahead and should have won them all but ended up losing them. The least mistakes a team makes then, obviously, the better chance they have of winning games.

“I would like us to go on a winning run and get into that winning mentality. Tonight we face a very good Vale of Leithen team whose manager, Jamie Burrell, will have well organised.

“The situation in the Premier Division is that any team must beat the teams around about them to pick up all three points and climb the table. This will be a massive three points for whichever team wins tonight.”

Carr has Omar Ali suspended although Conor McDiarmid returns to the squad.

The Vale manager, Jamie Burrell, has a full squad to choose from including recent signing Wayne Sproule.

Lothian sit third bottom of the table, three points ahead of Leith Athletic, but with a game in hand ahead of tonight’s match.