Six-goal St Andrews win is merely a stepping stone, advises United boss Cockburn

Jake Grady goes close with an attempt for St Andrews United against Ormiston ‘keeper Kieran Beveridge (picture by Matt Hooper)

But he warned it is merely a stepping stone as the north east Fife side aims to pull away from the lower reaches of the East of Scotland First Division Conference A.

The team was following the familiar path of ‘one game at a time’ and hoped to reach a particular level by the end of the festive break. It was one stand-alone result, said the gaffer, and United had to supplement it with other good showings – starting this Saturday away to bottom club Craigroyston.

Last weekend saw a comfortable enough display at the Clayton Caravan Park Recreation Ground, with a hat-trick from Lewis Sawers complemented by counters from Fraser Anderson, Reece Redpath and Adam Davidson.

"It was a well-deserved win,” said Cockburn. “The boys again followed the plan to a T and carried out exactly how we wanted to go about the game. So, very impressive in that manner. But, as I said last week, it's just another game. We have won one game and drawn one, so if we can still maintain what we are doing between now and Christmas, that is very good. It’s three points for where we are in the league and we hope we can continue that again on a consistent level. It’s impressive but it's still just a stepping stone.”

St Andrews are currently third bottom of the table with 11 points from 16 games, while Craigroyston are at the foot with seven points but two games in hand over United.

Cockburn said the squad had started late after being built up past pre-season, hence the one game at a time approach. "We set a challenge to the boys before the Christmas break and they are following everything just now,” he added. “We are starting behind everyone but we know where we are and what we’ve got to achieve. If we can start the ball rolling between now and Christmas, when we come back after new year is when our season is really going to be starting. It’s not really ideal but the boys understand the position we are in.

"Last weekend’s game was very good, a great win. But, again, it means nothing if we can't back it up this weekend against another team which is round about us in the league."

Stevie Livingstone is unavailable once again this weekend and Calum Mcaulay is suspended for another game – but getting a 6-0 result without them was testament to how well the team was bonding just now, said Cockburn. He added Jason Penman should be back from injury soon while a new signing would be announced in due course.