Shettleston boss Hugh Kelly has made a statement of intent by restoring former Town coach Adjie MacColl to his Greenfield Park backroom team.

His surprise appointment sends out a clear message that the Town gaffer is determined to leave no stone unturned in seeking to retain his club’s newly acquired Super Premier Division status.

Adjie was last at Kelly’s side when the club made it all the way to the 2001 Scottish Junior Cup semi-final only to lose out against Carnoustie Panmure –

And the seasoned campaigner, who worked alongside Tommy Bryce at Glenafton to help nurture Joe Carruth, Keith Hogg and Stevie Agnew prior to taking up the managerial reins at Rutherglen Glencairn on a caretaker basis, is enthusing over the remit of his Town role .

He said: "I enjoyed four years at Falkirk working under John Hughes initially and then Eddie May before taking charge of Drumchapel Amateurs in tandem with doing a bit of scouting work for St Mirren.

“ I’ve been a long time away from the Juniors, but it’s a fantastic level of the game.

"So I didn’t hesitate when Shug phoned me out of the blue to ask if I would take on the responsibility of running the rule over Shettleston’s opponents.

“He wants to be as fully prepared as possible going into games and nobody can fault his ultra-professional approach so I’ll be doing my utmost to support him.

“To date, I’ve only seen Shettleston play one game - a 3-1 defeat by Petershill – but I learned enough from that showing and through watching the guys going through their training ground paces that he has put together a decent core of players in the likes of Kenny Marshall, Brian McEwan, Scott Anson, Craig Halliday and of course goalkeeper Bryn Halliwell.

”That in itself doesn’t guarantee you win games unless the right mentality is also there and I believe this playing squad has it in bucketloads.”

Adjie will be on a “spying mission” elsewhere when Shettleston attempt to avoid a third league defeat on the spin tomorrow at home to a Beith side likely to be shorn of centre-backs John Sheridan and Ross Fisher through injury but posing a real attacking threat in the shape of striking trio Kenny McLean , Andy Reid and Darren Christie.

Elsewhere, reigning champions Auchinleck Talbot’s manager Tommy Sloan reckons his side are on dangerous ground away to Arthurlie who claim the distinction as the only top flight outfit to have remained unbeaten against the Ayrshire kingpins as they stormed to a third consecutive title success last season.

He recalled: “You always get a tough time of it at Dunterlie whose tight confines can make for a lot of end to end football .

“Arthurlie ran out 1-0 winners last time we were there and then battled their way to a 1-1 draw at Beechwood, so it won’t come as any surprise to learn that we’re anticipating another close fought contest.”

And Tucker admiys he does not have his selection woes to seek after last week’s in the wake of last weekend’s 1-0 New Coin Holdings West of Scotland Cup success away to Petershill.

He said: "Astro grass surfaces can be very unforgiving, so we didn’t risk Mark Campbell’s muscular problem last week and instead played Stevie White but now he’s picked up a back strain that makes him extremely doubtful for the Arthurlie game.

“And that poses a bit of a headache seeing as we’re already minus Willie Boyd who has aggravated an ankle injury picked up in an early season contest with Petershill so we may have to shuffle the guys around.”

The Talbot boss was understandably not too despondent upon hearing this week’s New Coin Holdings Cup second- round draw had landed Talbot - 11 times record holders of the silverware - with a trip down the Tail O’The Bank to take on Greenock at Ravenscraig Stadium.

“I’d have preferred a home tie but a game on grass is not a bad second prize,” he said.

Super Premier game of the day goes ahead at Blair Park, where tabletoppers Hurlford United await the visit of second placed Rob Roy whose “shock troops “tag is not to the liking of Rabs seasoned veteran Paul Finnigan.

He stressed the importance of Rob Roy’s backline in saying: “You can’t simply put it down to luck when we are getting our reward for being well organised and everyone putting in a shift for the team.

“Willie Sawyers and Kevin Watt are on fire and always likely to pinch a goal at the other end so remaining watertight defensively has every bit as much a key factor and we are pleased to have recorded 3 clean sheets from 4 league starts.

“Obviously a major test is looming against Hurlford - currently the highest scoring Super Premier side – but we will strive to do the same things ,individually and collectively, which have served us well up to now and see where it gets us."

Also going ahead in Ayrshire are crunch clashes for clubs at the basement end of the standings with bottom markers Glenafton hosting the visit of Pollok while fellow strugglers Irvine Meadow make the short hop to face a young and emerging Troon hoping home advantage will help their quest for consistency.