Johnstone Burgh boss Jamie McKim admits it has been a frustrating start to the year after his team was beaten by the weather again on Saturday.

The Keanie Park outfit have only played once in 2023 – a 1-0 loss against Auchinleck Talbot in the West of Scotland Cup at the beginning of this month.

Burgh haven’t had a league game since Hogmanay, when they were beaten 1-0 by Bonnyton Thistle, but McKim is hopeful of a return to action this weekend as he prepares to face Rossvale at Petershill Park.

He told Gazette Sport: “We’ve only had one game since the turn of the year, so it’s not ideal.

“We just need to make the best of the situation because there’s not much you can do about it.

“It looks as if we’ll be back on Saturday, with that game being on astroturf, and we’ll look to kick on from there.

“We might be a wee but rusty but hopefully not. The last time we played was a bounce game a couple of weeks ago. It’s been tough trying to get games at this time of year but hopefully that’s the end of the cold patch and we’ll not have any more games off due to frozen pitches.

“The training levels have remained good, so I’m happy with that, and we’ll look to approach the second half of the season positively and see how high we can go.”

McKim also explained the decision to place club captain Stuart Fyfe on the transfer list.

The central defender has been an ever present for the Burgh boss when available and McKim expects him to honour his contract as long as he remains at Keanie Park.

He added: “There was a discussion before the new year and another one afterwards and Stuart has made it clear he would like something new and the club are happy to grant him that.

“At the moment, he is still very much part of the squad and still has a contract.

“We haven’t discussed the captaincy going forward. It’s disappointing for me at this stage of the season that my captain wants to leave but there’s not a lot I can do about that.

“You’ll never hear me say a bad word about Stuart. He has done a lot for us over the years.

“We have a good relationship and I hope that can continue. I want the best for the club and the player, so it’s a difficult one.”