McLuckie: We can make it unlucky 13 for Talbot

The form of the derby rivals couldn’t be more different ahead of their latest showdown at Beechwood.

Saturday’s narrow win over Hurlford made it an impressive 12 straight wins in all competitions this season for Tommy Sloan’s side.

But for Nock it’s been a stuttering start with an embarassing 5-1 defeat to Kilbirnie last time out.

They’ve yet to win in three league matches, scoring just once, but McLuckie reckons they are better than the table suggests.

And this week, he said: “We got beat 5-1 last time out but I actually thought we played really well. We really should have had the game sewn up and have missed chances and paid the price.

“People look at the score and it looks like we were hammered - but it wasn’t like that. Their keeper was man-of-the-match as well which says a lot.

“I’m not daft though and know we need to start picking up points. And a game against Talbot is the perfect one for us now. We couldn’t have asked for a better game to kick-start things.

“We’ve not beaten them in the league for a long time and a win for us is long overdue. We know it’s going to be tough as they are a formidable outfit.

“I watched them on Saturday and this will be a right battle for us. We will go there and give it our best shot.” Cumnock have been dogged by selection issues but things are looking better for the weekend.

Robert Love, James Lundie, Steven O’Donnell and Keiran Wood are all likely to be available for the short trip.

And they geared up for the contest with a morale-boosting 7-1 victory over Annbank in a friendly on Saturday.

Ryan Metcalf, Keiron Maxwell, Steven Magure, Owen Ronald, Ryan Nisbet were all on target, with Paul Quinn netting a brace.

And McLuckie added: “The free weekend worked out well for us and gave us a chance to get a few boys back.

“Beating Annbank and scoring a few goals won’t have done us any harm.

“We’re ready for Talbot now and really looking forward to it.”