AFTER a run of home matches — with five of their last six games having been at Ravenscraig — Greenock take to the road no fewer than three times in the coming week.

Next Wednesday evening they head to Beith, followed by a trip to Uddingston to face Thorniewood a week tomorrow.

But first comes a tricky match at Cumbernauld this Saturday.

Whilst for Greenock the points are needed to ensure survival in the Super League First Division, for Cumbernauld it’s more a case of eyeing up a chance of promotion.

Granted, the prospects of that are relatively slim, but if the New Town side were to end the season with a series of victories, they could put themselves in with a realistic chance of sneaking third place in the league table and therefore a chance of going up via the play-offs.

So Greenock will have their work cut out tomorrow, especially as Cumbernauld will be on a high after their 2-0 win against Beith in midweek.

Of course, Greenock pulled off the exact same scoreline against the Ayrshire side just a few weeks ago, so tomorrow’s encounter could still go either way.

It was a tight affair when the teams met at Ravenscraig last September.

A goal from Jamie McKenna looked set to clinch the points for Greenock, but they were hit with an 11th-hour sucker punch as Cumbernauld grabbed the points with two injury-time goals. So Greenock gaffer Stevie Mooney will be looking for revenge tomorrow, but he appreciates his men will have to be on top of their game if that is to happen.

Mooney said: “Cumbernauld are not completely out of the promotion mix as things stand, and the fact that they beat Beith in midweek shows they will be no pushovers.

“We were gutted to lose out to them so late in the match the last time we played them, so it would be good to reverse the situation tomorrow, albeit not by leaving it quite so late.” As far as the league standings are concerned, it’s still all to play for, and with four sides to be relegated nothing is decided yet.

But Lesmahagow and Renfrew look destined for the drop, leaving at least another five or six teams, including Greenock, scrambling to retain their place in the league.

Mooney has been in the happy position of having no injury or availability problems with the team in recent weeks, and that continues tomorrow. But with 17 players currently in the squad, and only five subs plus the starting 11 allowed on the team-sheets, he has the regular dilemma of who to leave out. Meanwhile, the manager has been speaking of his pleasure at seeing former Greenock striker Kenny MacKay named as one of the four nominees for Player of the Year in the SPFL League Two.

MacKay has hit the net 14 times for Annan Athletic this season, and is thought to be attracting the attention of higher league clubs.

Mooney said: “I am delighted for Kenny, and his nomination shows how a good attitude and hard work will be rewarded.” Kick-off for Cumbernauld v Greenock at Guys Meadow Stadium tomorrow is at 2pm.

Greenock Juniors are sponsored by SAVEHEAT, and the Lighthouse Bar.