Focus is all on the next match, insists Bonnyrigg Rose manager Calum Elliot

Calum Elliot is hoping for another victory this weekend.Calum Elliot is hoping for another victory this weekend.
Calum Elliot is hoping for another victory this weekend.
Bonnyrigg Rose boss Calum Elliot insists he hasn't set his squad any targets this season aside from winning the next game.

Following back-to-back defeats to Peterhead and Spartans, Rose have picked up four points from a possible six this past fortnight after a 2-2 draw with Edinburgh City was bettered by last Saturday's hard-fought 2-1 success over title favourites Clyde.

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And former Hearts striker Elliot, who took over from predecessor Robbie Horn in March, is adamant the group won't look beyond tomorrow's visitors to New Dundas Park Stranraer.

Elliot said: "It was a good result last weekend. We've definitely deserved more from our first couple of games. I think a win was exactly what we were due so hopefully we can now kick on. We've played three of the teams I think will finish in the top four this season - Spartans, Peterhead and Clyde - so it's been a tough start.

"Our target is always just to try and win the next game. It's as simple as that. We don't look beyond what's coming up next. The level of opposition is so difficult every match so it's week to week how we operate. We won't look at where we're at until the tail end of the season. You have to be on it every game and that's what we try and instil into the boys. It's certainly a competitive division and there's been very little in the games we've played so far.

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"Stranraer is going to be another tough test. We've already lost to them this season in the Challenge Cup. We've worked hard to make sure our preparation is right because it's going to be difficult. There's only been four games so far so it's difficult to gauge where teams are at.

"Once you get to that nine-game mark you maybe get a better reflection, but Stranraer are a good side with some decent players. We've got to turn up, be strong and aggressive and if we do the right things then we're hopeful we can get the result we want. The aim is always to try and win games of football so getting that first one hopefully helps."

As he closes in on six months in the Rose dugout, Elliot, who has managed at Cowdenbeath, Tranent, Tynecastle and Penicuik Athletic, has assembled a squad, he believes, has a nice balance of youth and experience.

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The 37-year-old said: "It was obviously difficult circumstances in how I took over but I've enjoyed it. Injuries haven't helped so far this season but we're slowly and surely getting some players back. We've got a lot of new ones in the squad who haven't played at this level before so you've got to give them that little bit of time.

"We're not putting them under too much pressure but they are good quality guys who have come from a couple of leagues below who have shown their quality in training, so it's about finding the right time to put them into the team. But we've got a lot of experience too.

"The boys have been an absolute credit to themselves and the club since I came in so I can't speak highly enough of them. They're doing everything we are asking them to do. This league is defined by small margins so we're trying to improve those aspects at both ends of the pitch."

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