Premier Sports Cup will prove we can live with SPFL big boys, says East Kilbride boss

dailyrecord.co.uk:

East Kilbride boss Mick Kennedy believes his side will acquit themselves well in the Premier Sports League Cup this month and prove they are more than capable of competing against SPFL opposition on a regular basis.The club are still licking their wounds from a SPFL play-off defeat to Stranraer in May, which has kept the Lowland League champions in the fifth tier for yet another season.The League Cup provides a taste of what life would be like in the senior ranks with a glamour game at home to Aberdeen to look forward to on July 20, following a trip to League Two Dumbarton in the Group A opener on Saturday and a visit to Championship side Airdrieonians on Tuesday night.And Kennedy, whose side will also face League One Queen of the South on July 23, believes his side will do themselves proud.He said: “We will play Dumbarton, Queen of the South, Airdrie and Aberdeen over the next few weeks and I am sure we will acquit ourselves very well.“I don’t think there is any doubt our group is at SPFL level but the reality is our whole season gets pinned on two games at the end of it, where anything can happen.“That’s what happened last season against Stranraer but, playing consistently in a season, this group, in my opinion, would be competing to win League Two.“We just need to reset and go again this season.“Lifting them is hard because there is an appreciation within the group that we should have gone through over the two play-off games.“I think it would have been easier to take if we’d been comfortably beaten.“The boys already know they are at that level.

I don’t need to tell them that, they have enough self-awareness about them. It is harder [to lift them] during the break, but now everyone is back working together, we are