ASHFIELD boss Stevie Rankin has confirmed rumours that Senior clubs are in pursuit of wing sensation Gary McCann.

The 21-year-old's scintillating form this season already brought a Scotland Juniors call-up for September's friendly match against Rutherglen Glencairn.

But it remains to be seen whether he will still be around the Junior scene when the Quadrangular Tournament is played later this year now that Senior scouts have started circling Saracen Park.

Rankin was not for revealing the identities of those clubs making tentative approaches however a calculated guess would put SFL Second Division outfit Stranraer among McCann's would-be suitors.

The Stair Park side's recently installed No.2 Stevie Farrell is an admirer of the player whose wing skills were instrumental in putting Farrell's previous club Cumnock to the sword in a 4-2 Ashfield victory earlier this season.

Rankin said: "Gary is very happy here and is in no hurry to move on but I believe it's only a matter of time before the lad steps up Senior.

"We've kept him in the loop about clubs expressing an interest and he knows both myself and the people at Ashfield will not stand in his way should he feel there's an opportunity of him progressing in the game.

"And all this transfer talk is not affecting him in the slightest as he's only focused on getting himself ready for this week's game at home to Rob Roy."

The Possil outfit are hoping their Super Premier clash gets the go- ahead as they look to stop the rot of three consecutive defeats spanning all of nine weeks.

Rankin added: "The players' last win bonus was for beating Irvine Meadow 5-2 on the first Saturday in November and we followed that game up by losing in successive weeks against Petershill and to Ardeer Thistle in the Emirates Junior Cup.

"As you can imagine, everyone was desperate to make amends but the wintry weather then hit us harder than most clubs and we went all of seven weeks without a game before heading down to play Beith last Saturday."

He went on: "It was sod's law that we got back playing again at the same time as a flu bug was ravaging our dressing room.

"We only had one fit substitute and some guys played while feeling under the weather, so I was absolutely delighted with our showing against a decent Beith side even though the 2-1 defeat was a real kick in the teeth for us.

"But we cannot be feeling sorry for ourselves and more of the same character will be needed if we want to do any better against a much improved Rob Roy side who are sitting third on merit

"At home and with our squad back to full strength we must be confident in our ability to win."

Meanwhile, I hear that Irvine Meadow, left without a competitive fixture on Saturday because of Cumnock's involvement in the Emirates Cup fourth round, will face Wishaw at home in a friendly (1.45pm).