TOMMY Sloan insists Talbot’s tough run-in means his side still have plenty of hurdles to clear before they can be confirmed league champions.

Last Saturday’s 3-0 win over Largs saw the Beechwood side move six points clear of Irvine Meadow with both teams having four games left.

Medda have still to travel to Auchinleck, as have local rivals Cumnock, while Sloan’s men face a tough trip to Scottish Cup semi-finalists Hurlford.

Bot are away at Kilbirnie today, the only one of their final four games with a fixed date, and Sloan said: “We can’t think too far ahead and I always try to just look at the next game.

“Ourselves and Irvine are level pegging on number of games played so we know what he have to do now. It’s in our hands but we’ve got a really tough final few games so we have an awful lot to do yet.

“Kilbirnie have had a good season and played really well for 45 minutes at our place.” Sloan was pleased with his side’s second-half display against Largs with goals coming from Bryan Young, Graham Wilson and Colin Spence in a brilliant 20-minute burst.

The Talbot manager said: “The first half was pretty dour from our point of view and not a lot happened. We didn’t need to say a lot but we brought on Spence and Keir Milliken, both who have been missing for a few weeks, and they made a big difference. They were excellent.

“If we play like we did in that second half for the rest of the season then we’ll have no worries.” Sloan confirmed that Dwayne Hyslop is going in for a knee operation on Friday and is set for a length spell on the sidelines.

David Gormley, Chic and Kenny Connolly return to the squad after missing Saturday’s match due to work commitments.