TONY McINALLY is looking forward to pitting his wits against his good pal Davie Greig in tomorrow's Evening Times Champions' Cup final at Newlandsfield.

Pollok and Blantyre Vics will go head-to-head on the south side of Glasgow after seeing off the threat of Ayrshire sides Auchinleck Talbot and Ardrossan respectively.

But McInally insisted there will be no old pal's act when the referee blows the first whistle tomorrow, despite him blowing the trumpet in support of his opposite number.

He told TimesSport: "For me, Davie has been the manager of the season. He might be a good friend of mine, but the reality is that his team has been fantastic this year.

"He took on that club two-and-a-half seasons ago when they had no points on the board and now he has back-to-back championships, and qualified for semi-finals and finals of cups this season. It certainly hasn't been a fluke.

"I watched them during the week against Ardrossan and they have a lot of talented players in their team.

"The lad David Galt is very good and Mark Thompson has been round the block, so they will be a real handful. Terry Hewitt, their captain, is also a big player for them at the back.

"They have players all over the pitch who can play, and mix it up if they want. They also have good pace and strength - in fact, they have a bit of everything in their team, so it's a game I'm really looking forward to."

But turning the spotlight on his own side, McInally - who took over at Newlandsfield just over a year ago - reckons his club is now getting back to where it belongs.

Pollok have managed to bounce straight back up after the ignominy of relegation from the top flight.

Macca said: "Pollok are without doubt one of the biggest clubs in the Junior game and I reckon we should be competing at the high end of every competition we enter.

"That's something my coaches and I are trying to drum into the players. We did it at Shotts and managed to get to seven cup finals out of nine, and we also won the Scottish Cup.

"We have been trying to instil a winning mentality in the dressing room since we came to the club and we have now gained a wee bit of momentum, so that's something we would naturally like to see continue.

"It's also good to see the smiles re-appearing on the Pollok people's faces because they have been through a bit of a rough time in the last year or so."

Pollok had the toughest possible semi-final draw imaginable, coming up against Auchinleck just a few days after the Ayrshire giants had landed the Scottish Junior Cup for the 11th time.

But they showed their class with a guard of honour for Tommy Sloan's men before Wednesday night's keenly-anticipated last four-clash.

McInally, however, insisted his players were only doing what they thought was right.

He said: "Auchinleck's achievements are phenomenal and they have a fantastic manager and a fantastic team and they are only to be admired.

"But I like to think that we go about things the right way at Pollok. We are a club with a bit of class and we had to show that respect to the Scottish champions and rightly so.

"It was a cracking cup-tie but I thought we were the better team and that they scored their first goal against the run of play. To be honest, it was a wee bit of a lack of concentration on our part.

"From then on, though, it was a very even game. We are a league below, but wanted to be competitive and show that there wasn't much between the sides.

"We will once again be in the same league next season, but that will take care of itself. On Wednesday night we showed we could compete with them and, most importantly, I think we showed everybody that Pollok are on the way back.

"That's the important part for me. It's important this club gets back to where it once was, and that's competing for honours in the top league against the best teams.

"Against Talbot we had good players all over the park. The likes of Jordan Longmuir, Gary Wild and Allan MacKenzie showed that we have some very good players at this club.

"Equally, I felt Auchinleck had some outstanding players on show, so that made it all the sweeter to get through. I'm now looking forward to the final."

As McInally alluded to, goalkeeper Longmuir is one of the main reasons Pollok got to the final after an outstanding semi-final performance.

McInally plucked the unknown keeper from top Scottish amateur side Colville Park, and the young gun has been phenomenal this season.

He said: "We played Blantyre Vics pre-season and won 4-1 - but they actually gave us a bit of a doing and we were hanging on in there. We know it will be tough tomorrow.

"But to end the season playing in the Evening Times Champions Cup final - at our own ground - is a great way to sign off.

"This is my first season with Pollok and it couldn't have gone any better. We enjoyed a great run in the Scottish Cup and won the league, and now we have this final tomorrow to look forward to. Another winner's medal would be the icing on the cake."