IT was back to winning ways for Talbot on Saturday and boss Tommy Sloan reckons they are over their mini slump that saw them dumped out of the Ardagh Glass Cup final, the senior Scottish Cup and a shock defeat to Arthurlie.

Talbot saw off Petershill on Saturday with a 3-1 victory at Beechwood Park and gaffer Sloan was thrilled with his sides showing.

He said: “There was a bit of life about us again on Saturday. We were certainly a lot brighter. That’s probably the best we have played all season, at least for an hour. We played some great stuff and just showed a lot more energy about us.

“We have done well in the Scottish Cup and West of Scotland Cup but we looked really flat against Arthurlie so really improved at the weekend.” Sloan’s side now face a mammoth week as they travel to New Cumnock to take on Glens in league duty on Saturday and that is followed up with a visit to Meadow Park for a bumper Scottish Cup showdown with Irvine Meadow seven days later.

Sloan said: “It’s a huge week or two for us coming up. First and foremost we are focusing on Glenafton. Tommy Bryce has got Glenafton playing really well at the minute and they are picking up the points. But we are confident that if we play the way we did for the first hour on Saturday that we have enough to take the points. Hopefully I’ll have close to the same starting eleven who played in the Petershill game.” Sloan is adamant that his sides loss at the hands of Glens in the Ardagh Glass Cup final won’t be lingering over them at Loch Park on Saturday, saying: “That’s gone. We’ve put that behind us now and we are in pretty good nick now so it’s just another game to us where we want the three points.

“It’s games like these that we’re in football for. A derby game and then a massive cup game.

“You sometime think that maybe we wanted an easier cup tie than against Meadow, and I’m sure they were thinking the same. But it’s a tough week and we know what we have to do.