JOHNSTONE Burgh manager Jamie McKim hopes his side’s challenging pre-season schedule will stand them in good stead for the season ahead.

The Keanie Park outfit set themselves a difficult run of friendlies in the build-up to the 2022/23 campaign with ties against the likes of Pollok, Open Goal Broomhill and Auchinleck Talbot.

Results so far have been mixed for McKim’s men as they finished third in the John Grant Tournment before picking up a 5-1 win over Greenock Juniors, battling to a goalless draw with Pollok and narrowly losing out to Open Goal Broomhill 2-1 on Saturday.

Burgh then met with Renfrew on Monday evening and secured a 2-1 win at Keanie Park ahead of a trip to Beechwood Park tonight to take on Auchinleck Talbot.

Their pre-season campaign concludes on Saturday when McKim takes his squad to Duncansfield to face Kilsyth Rangers – and the manager is pleased with how pre-season has gone so far.

Speaking to Gazette Sport, he said: “I’m really happy with where we are. 

“I’m not too worried about results at this stage. We’re changing the team all the time and barring the first game against Glenvale I think we’ve done well.

“We took the two games in two days with the tournament, and when you’ve got 20 players to use, no-one is really getting near 90 minutes, which isn’t ideal preparation.

“The better the opponent you play then the more competitive the game feels. It feels closer to real, competitive matches than it would be if you’re going to play teams and expect to win easily.

“The week period between the last friendly and our first league game will allow us to go in and work on anything that needs addressed on the training pitch and make final wee tweaks.

“I think we’re in good shape anyway but there’s a couple of things we’ll need to fine tune and then we’ll be in good shape for the coming season.”

McKim has added a number of new faces to his squad in a busy summer at Keanie Park and says his signings are all settling in well – but he is still keen to add one more.

He added: “Some people have hit the ground running and others might take a wee bit longer but I think we’re going into this season with a stronger squad.

“I’m hopeful of adding one more this week and I think that’ll be us after that happens.”

Kick-off at Beechwood Park this evening is at 7.15pm with Saturday’s contest against Kilsyth getting underway at 2pm.