GLENAFTON Athletic boss Ryan Caddis hailed the "incredible character" shown by his side as they opened their Premier Division account with a dramatic 4-3 win at home to St Cadoc's on Saturday.

Goals in the first 25 minutes from Ollie Rowe and Michael Mullen had put the home side in the driving seat, before Neil McLaughlin and Ciaran Diver pulled the visitors level with two goals in three minutes.

That was how it stayed at half-time - before Jack Breen's header on 71 minutes put St Cadoc's 3-2 up.

Glens had lost the last match between the sides 3-1 at Loch Park in early May - but in a manic three-minute spell, Rowe and Mullen each notched their second to put Caddis's men back in front, with the New Cumnock outfit holding on in the closing stages to secure a sensational win against a St Cadoc's side who are widely expected to challenge for the title.

 

“We’re under no illusions how tough it’s going to be this year," Caddis told the Chronicle.

"We probably couldn’t have got a tougher start than St Cadoc’s.

 

“Martin [Fellowes, the St Cadoc's manager] is different class with the way he coaches his teams and the way they play. Personally, I think if you finish above St Cadoc’s this year, you’ll win the league.

“We just made it difficult for them. We had a structure and a system that the boys stuck to.

“We took our chances when they came along, and we rode our luck at times, but you’re going to do that when you’re playing against quality.

“It wasn’t as if we stole it. The game could have gone either way. Maybe it's just me being a wee bit biased but I thought we just shaded it enough to take the three points.”

And the Loch Park boss was delighted to see the messages passed to his team during pre-season put into effect when the serious business got under way.

"I spoke before about how I was going to bring in a certain type of player," he said.

"It was about character.

“Every player I signed, I went and met, because I like to look them in the eye and see what kind of character they are.

“Going 2-0 up, to going 3-2 down, to going back to win 4-3 – it just shows the boys have got character.

“The changing room is good. There’s legs, there’s energy, there’s a mix of experience. It was good to see we’ve got that side to us as well.”

But the manager admitted that he had his coaching staff to thank, in part, for securing all three points.

He continued: “When it went to 3-3 I was thinking about shoring it up and taking a point.

“They said 'let’s go for it, let’s go try get the win'. We went 3-4-3 and wee Michael Mullen scores a worldy to win the game, so fair play to the coaching team for not wanting to settle for a point."

(Image: Glenafton Athletic)

Caddis now hopes Saturday's win will lay down a marker and that opposing teams won't find Loch Park a happy hunting ground - even if the hospitality is first class.

"Last year, our first home win was in April," he said. "We drew one and won another two after that, but it was all at the end, when we needed to pick up points.

“I’m hoping we can make Loch Park a fortress where people don’t want to come and play.

“We’ve probably got the best tea ladies in Scotland with the grub they put on.

“I don’t want teams to come down and think they can’t wait to get something to eat after the game, the grub's brilliant, the set up's brilliant and we’ll go away up the road with three points.

“I want to make it as horrible and uncomfortable a place as possible for people to come to."

But the Glens boss isn't dwelling for too long on Saturday's win, with a trip to Recreation Park coming up on Tuesday, July 30 to face a Darvel side who lost 2-0 at Auchinleck Talbot in their opening fixture.

“It’s always important to try and win your first game," he said, "but it’s not the end of the world either, because there’s still 29 to go.

“But it’s important to get three points on the board, especially when you’re tipped to be one of the favourites to go down.

“It brings its own pressures as well, but we’ll keep it internal and we’ll just go a game at a time and see how it goes.

“We go to Darvel on Tuesday, and we’re under no illusion they’ll be trying to kick on from the defeat they got at Beechwood on Saturday."

But Caddis says he remains quietly confident that his side have what is required to pick up another impressive result.

"We’ll be going up there with a game and a structure and we hope we can frustrate Darvel and get three points on the board," he added.

"In my opinion, though I might be being biased again, in Michael Mullin and Hugh Kerr we have the best strikers in the division.

“When they’re at it I don’t see many better. We’ve also got Armand [Dollani], who we brought in from Cambuslang, who is a different type of striker to those two.

“We will cause teams problems, it’s just a matter of whether we can shut up defensively.”

Tuesday night's match away to Darvel gets under way at 7.30pm, before Glens welcome newly-promoted Johnstone Burgh to Loch Park on August 3 (KO 2pm).