Broxburn boss Steve Pittman has eye on South Division title

Jan 14 2010 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

STEVE PITTMAN reckons Broxburn Athletic will be the envy of every junior club once their all-new sports complex is completed.

And the Broxburn boss insists he has a group of players on the pitch the equal of the state-of-the-art new facilities as he eyes up South Division title glory.

The West Lothian club have spent the first half of the season homeless as work is carried out at Albyn Park with new dressing rooms going up and a new pitch being laid.

As a result they have been using nearby junior grounds or the Craigswood Sports complex as their home ground to ensure their league and cup fixtures are fulfilled.

But it is only a temporary measure and once completed Pittman reckons Albyn Park will be the jewel in the West Lothian junior crown.

He admitted, though, that the development does have its drawbacks but insists everything will be well worth the upheaval.

The boss continued: “It’s a problem not having a home base but we’ll just have to get on with it.

“But in the end all the hard work undertaken by the Broxburn committee will be worth it and they have been our twelfth man all season.

“At training we have five or six committee men all helping out where they can and the players really appreciate their hard work.”

The former US international stopper, who had spells with Dundee and Partick as a player, took over the reigns at Broxburn in the summer and he is convinced he has a squad more than capable of title glory.

He continued: “We’ve got a really strong squad possibly the strongest in the South Division.

“We’ve got all the positions covered with everyone fighting to keep their place every week.

“So far this season we’ve played well and we believe we have the players to win the title this season.

“They go onto the field believing they can take the title and if we can keep the momentum going we are strong enough.

“Some of the players are already standing out like John Jeffreys who has bags of experience alongside Stuart Cairns whom we signed from Forfar.

“He was offered a new contract to stay there but decided to come back here. John Millar was signed from Stirling Albion and is another player who has been terrific for us so far.

“Importantly as well, we have players like Barry Craig and Greig Bishop coming back from bad injuries which for us is like signing two new players for the rest of the season.

“We made Craig Young our captain and he has improved tremendously, taking responsibility on the field.

“Our new ground will great for players like Sean Martin who we recently signed from Hill of Beath and he will love the new surface.

“We need a big squad because as the season draws to a close we’ll be playing three or four games a week.

“On a personal point of view, I’m enjoying this every bit as much as playing.

“It’s different but when you see good football being played there’s nothing better.”

Broxburn secretary Jim Provan has backed his manager’s claims that title glory is there’s for the taking.

“Our target this season is promotion and we believe we have the squad to do it,” said Provan.

“We have a very good pool of players with a lot of experience and a firm belief that we will win the title.

“If you don’t approach every game with that attitude you will win nothing.

“But the committee believe we have the players and manager to get us over the final hurdle.”

Provan also admitted the wintry West Lothian weather has held up work at Albyn Park but he is confident it will be completed on time.

He added: “There has been a bit of a delay due to the weather but we’re hoping to have the diggers in on Monday (January 18) to start work on the ground itself and we are getting there.

“It is a frustration not being able to play at home but we’ll put up with it for this season.

“Hopefully both the dressing rooms and ground will be ready at the same time.”

Broxburn are currently sitting in fifth place in the South Division pile but they are only nine points behind leaders Tranent with a massive five games in hand.

Should they win their games in hand then they could soar to the top of the pile.