GLENAFTON Athletic boss Paul Paton says he "could not be happier" with his side's efforts in pre season so far.
The New Cumnock side returned to action last week by taking on League One side Queen of the South before a match against Premiership play-off semi-finalists Partick Thistle.
Both matches ended in a 3-1 defeat for the East Ayrshire outfit - who more recently faced off against West of Scotland Football League (WoSFL) Third Division side Craigmark Burntonians, winning 8-1.
“We’ve been back for three or four weeks, we’re happy," Paton commented. "We had two good runouts against two full-time clubs and I thought we acquitted ourselves quite well.
“Financially, for the club as well, to bring down a League One side and a team as big as Thistle - it’s always going to be good, thanks goes to (Mark) Wilson and his team for that.
“Saturday, we played Craigmark and we beat them 8-1, that showed the other side of our attacking game, we looked as sharp as we did a lot of the time last season.
“Things are starting to go in the right direction, we play Darvel on Saturday which will be another big test.”
The Glens boss says his players have given him as much as he could expected since their return.
He added: “I couldn’t be happier with the boys right now, everything I’ve asked them to do pre-season they’ve done it.
“They’ve gave me everything they’ve had, they just need to keep working hard and I’m really positive we’ll have a decent season.”
Paton feels that the challenging tests against top opposition will serve his side well as they edge closer to their competitive return.
He continued: “It’s always good to test ourselves against top player, I thought the players done great but I actually had a go at them for getting beat - I just hate losing football games.
“It doesn’t matter who we play but at the same time you have to reflect, they are a much bigger club with a higher budget who are full time.
“Although my standards are sky high there has to be a realisation of who we were playing.
“It was a bad mistake for the third goal as well, it should really have been a 2-1 game, and we would have had chances to equalise. We can’t be too hard on ourselves.”
For Paton, it was no surprise his side managed to challenge against both Queen of the South and Partick Thistle either.
In reality, he wants to demand even more for his squad in future.
He said: “It was strong teams but I have a lot of belief in the players I’ve got, I’ve got guys I hold in right high regard.
“It doesn’t surprise me we are competing with these clubs. I’ve said it since I came in, if we can get our backsides in gear defensively we will give anyone a game.
“Even though we done well in those two teams, that was six goals we conceded in two games, I was raging with that.
“It’s still our home pitch, we don’t won’t to be conceding three goals against anybody. If the boys didn’t know that before they certainly do now.”
Paton has also been pleased by those he has added to his squad since the end of last season.
Calum Wilson, Lee Duncanson, Blair Anderson, David Craig and James Hart have all come in at Loch Park so far.
The Glens boss admitted that he would like to add to that - but won't be rushing into the transfer market.
Paton commented: “I’m delighted with everybody who’s come through the door, they’ve all looked good.
“When you look at a squad you look for upgrades, I think I’ve managed to do that so far.
“The budget is more or less spent, it’s been quite difficult but I think we’ve got space for another centre half but we don’t want to rush into things and bring in the wrong one.
“We don’t have the budget to do that, it’s got to be someone that comes in and makes us better.”
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