Hurlford assistant boss John Dempster offers Blair Park pre-season update

dailyrecord.co.uk:

John Dempster has joked he will be to blame if Hurlford United lose their first league game. The Blair Park assistant boss oversaw the first two weeks of pre-season training along with coach Ally Brown to allow manager Darren Henderson a break.

And No 2 Dempster has heaped praise on the players for an intense fortnight of work. Speaking to the club’s Twitter page, he said: “Pre-season has been going great, the boys have been fantastic. “It has been really intense, but the boys came back in good order so we can’t complain. “Their attitude has been first class, we’ve got a few trialists in, and we can’t fault any of their attitudes either.” Dempster laughed: “The gaffer was away for a couple of weeks, will he be happy with what we’ve done?

You’d be better asking me after the first league game! If we win that he will be happy, if not he’ll blame me and Ally for the first two weeks of pre-season! “But seriously I kept in contact with him, he knows every session we were doing and I think he trusts the boys as well, they’re all hard-working.” Meanwhile captain Paul McKenzie penned a new deal and agreed to an 11th season at Blair Park.

Dempster also hopes the side can add to their signings of Lewis Morrison, Calum Watt and Ally Love in the coming weeks. He said: “We’ve got a few fires burning just now, we’re trying to probably get another three in. “We need to add a goalkeeper, we’ve only got Chris Taylor there himself – there’s also another couple of areas we are looking to strengthen. “We are hoping to have the extra bodies in before the season starts.” Read next: Don't miss the latest Ayrshire headlines – sign up to our free daily newsletter