Tranent Juniors champing at the bit to return to action but Johnny Harvey glad of extra time with squad

Postponements have afforded new Tranent boss Johnny Harvey the opportunity to get his ideas across to his players on the training pitch, but he admits nothing quite beats playing games on a Saturday.

Harvey has just taken charge of one match since he took over – a cup loss to former club Penicuik – with their league win over the Cuikie just days down to caretaker boss David McGlynn as Harvey watched on after just returning from holiday.

Two matches have been called off since that cup loss, so he and his squad are eager to get going again with tomorrow’s SFA South Region Challenge Cup quarter-final away to Hill of Beath certainly one to get the blood pumping.

“Things have been good, I have enjoyed working with the players but it has been a bit stop-start with regards to games,” said Harvey. “The benefits to games getting called off is we have done a lot of training ground work and I have been able to get my ideas across, and the players seem quite receptive to it.

“It’s a huge game for us. Cup competitions are important for the club. It is obviously going to be very difficult with the hand we have been dealt in regards to suspensions, players being cup tied and injuries as well.

"We will be going through there with the bare bones but we are certainly going through with a team that is capable of winning the game. We are looking forward to it, and I am looking forward to getting more games under my belt.

“I’d be hoping to go all the way because this is probably the second most prestigious cup competition behind the Scottish Cup. We want to give it a good go, but we are under no illusions how difficult it is going to be. Getting into the next round would give everyone at the club something to look forward to.”

Hume joins

Harvey has brought in winger Arran Ponton from old club Penicuik, while he revealed brother-in-law Craig Hume has also signed.

He continued: “We’ve not announced it but we have signed Humey, and I’ll hopefully be signing one other. It’s not just because he’s in the family, he is good enough to make us better.

“He is in just to help out the squad just now, it is only a short-term deal until the end of the season and then we will see what happens after that. We have a lot of injuries and boys cup-tied – we have three cup-tied for Saturday and Humey isn’t.

“It is going to be a bit of a pain because we have the same three players who are cup-tied for most of the cups, which just means we will need to make changes pretty regularly.

“It is going to be a pain between now and the end of the season, but it isn’t one we can’t get through because we have got some good players in the squad.”