Ashfield boss John Conlin is hoping to make today's trip to meet Rutherglen Glencairn a memorable one.

It can hardly be anything else for someone who rose to prominence in Junior circles through his management stint at the Glens helm in the early 1990's when the likes of Scott Smith, Paul Quinn, Thomas Jarvis , Paul McNeil and Willie Patterson played under him.

Today's contest will be his first time back and Conlin revealed himself looking forward to meeting up with old friends - not least of all Glens manager Willie Harvey.

He said: "I'd describe today as returning to my old stamping ground but that wouldn't exactly be accurate because Glencairn's home ground nowadays is the Clyde Gateway Stadium whereas they played out of Southcroft Park during my time in charge.

"No doubt one or two people will reckon my coming back here adds an extra edge to the game but that's all history now. The only semblance of a connection that I have with their current dressing room is from assistant manager Robert Torrance having played in one of my Glens'teams.

"Willie and I go back a long way and I've no doubt a tough game is in prospect as he knows the Juniors inside out and how to set his teams up."

Conlin is urging his players to atone for their 5-1 crash at home to Maybole last weekend.

He added: "We have been on a good run and set our standards high with outstanding performances in games against Beith and Culter.

"But with all due respect, losing 5-1 at home to Maybole last weekend is nothing short of embarrassing and should act as a wake-up call for every single player to remind them of the need to be totally focused and give your best in every game.

"Some didn't do that last weekend and the team paid a heavy price, so now comes the chance to make amends."

Happy to pick up the gauntlet thrown down by his long-time friend is Glens gaffer Harvey, who looks certain to award debut starting appearances to his trio of new signings from Cambuslang Rangers - Thomas 'Deco' Kilmartin, Mark Bishop and Jamie 'Messi' McLeod after all three figured prominently in a midweek 5-2 friendly win over Arthurlie in which striker Deco helped himself to a hat-trick.

Harvey said: "John is thought of very highly at Glencairn - not least of all by myself - so he is assured of a warm welcome today.

"However, for 90 minutes I'll be wanting my players to do their utmost to make his return anything but a happy one.

"His team had a bad result last week but so did we in losing to Dunipace in the West and I believe freshening up things is a necessity to get our season kick-started.

"We haven't had our problems to seek but a lack of a scoring edge has been our biggest headache albeit an understandable one given our strikeforce from last season Brett Agnew (work commitments) and Denis McLaughlin (injury) haven't kicked a ball for us.

"Hopefully, bringing Deco in will go a long way to rectifying the problem because he's the type of penalty box finisher capable of sticking away the chances we have been creating in just about every game.

"This is far from an irretrievable situation as I still have belief in the players coming good. Though some are lacking in confidence, we can easily put that right by winning a few matches ....ideally starting with Ashfield today."