KELLO Rovers boss John Quinn had an inside track on Irvine Meadow, he revealed fter the Kirkconnel side left North Ayrshire with a morale-boosting win.

And he hopes his team can keep defying the odds after the 1-0 victory helped them move up to fifth bottom spot in the Super First Division.

Quinn was assistant to former Meadow manager Ross Wilson at the start of the campaign, but in September returned to Nithside Park, where he had also been Wilson’s number two.

He said: “I understand the qualities that are in Meadow’s team from being here in the past. We had a game plan of being patient, defending when we had to and when we had the opportunity to break we took it. Stuart Bell was outstanding in central defence.”

Quinn is also impressed with the local identity of the team and said: “These boys play for the love of football and have grit and determination. Nine of the players out of 13 are from the Kirkconnel area which is great.

Asked his aims he said: “We will take it one game at a time, I have come back to galvanise the team and try and get them playing football like we did last season. That is always going to be hard when we are against better teams and have no money. We won promotion against all the odds last season and were favourites to go back down but it was good to win again. We were unlucky and could have had a few more points on the board.

“We would love to stay in this league but you have to earn it. Meadow are struggling a bit and results are not going for them, just like us but we are in the same position. Results don’t reflect performances.”