Marko looks forward to new season

Jul 5 2007

HAMILTON defender Mark McLaughlin has admitted this is a vital season for him, and could even determine his future in football.

Injury deprived Accies boss Billy Reid of his defensive rock last season, with McLaughlin only making six appearances throughout a frustrating season.

But the former Clyde stopper says staying fit this season is of the highest importance to him and is something he’s determined to achieve.

He said: “I only played six games last season, so for my future at Hamilton — and to a certain extent my future in football — I need to play quite a lot of games during the season.

“But pre-season has been going well so far.

“I am just looking forward to the games starting now and hopefully staying fit to play my part in the club’s drive for promotion.”

McLaughlin is pleased that boss Billy Reid is strengthening his squad, as he anticipates the toughest First Division campaign of what has been a lengthy career.

The 31-year-old said: “The gaffer has strengthened our squad and we will probably bring in a bit more experience, I would think.

“There’s a lot of competition for places all over the squad now, but that makes it good for the gaffer as players will be desperate to get into the side and stay there.

“Competition for places is what you need — it keeps people on their toes.”

‘Marko’ is looking forward to the big kick-off, and reckons it will be a very hard season for all the clubs in the division.

He said: “This will probably be the tightest league since I started playing in the First Division. There are strong teams coming into the league, while St Johnstone are a good side, Livingston and Dundee will strengthen, and Partick will probably be strong.

“This is probably the tightest it’s been, I don’t think there will be any ‘easy’ games at all, and I think everybody will take points off of each other.

“I don’t think there will be a team that runs away with it — it will be a good division this year.

“We start against Dunfermline but I think if we can start well then we’ll be OK.

“We’ve got Clyde in our second game and that will be interesting, particularly with the recent history.

“If we take something against Dunfermline and beat Clyde we can certainly kick on from there.”