GREENOCK get the second half of this season’s Western Premiership One league programme under way this Saturday with a visit to Glenpark by Dumfries.

The local side have so far had a disappointing return to the Premiership and only managed one win from the opening nine rounds of matches

Playing Dumfries in the first match of the second half of the season is the perfect start for Greenock as the visitors have also had a poor season so far and have not won a Premiership match since mid-May - and suffered six straight defeats since then.

Saturday’s game therefore provides Greenock with an excellent opportunity to get a much needed win and so build confidence for the remainder of the season.

While Greenock have just a solitary win, Dumfries have two wins to their credit. Those wins came against Greenock at their Nunholm ground in Round 1 of the Premiership and against Stirling County at New Williamfield in Round 3.

But only once since then has the Dumfries team managed to score above 150 runs in a match, and as a result the south of Scotland team has lacked a competitive edge.

The Nunholm side’s batting line-up has shown constant change during the season. And no fewer than twelve different players have featured in the top four of the batting order in their most recent four Premiership matches.

Adam Malik has been promoted to being an opening bat in the last four matches. But he has had a different opening partner each time and early loss of wickets has been a regular pattern for the Dumfries team’s top order. Malik has been their most consistent batsman over the past month with scores in excess of 20 in each of his last four innings.

Also one to watch is Chris Bellwood. He is the Dumfries side’s second highest run scorer with 146 runs from 8 innings, including a top score of 60 against Ferguslie.

Greenock must try and put the Dumfries batters under pressure from the off with accurate bowling and sharp fielding so that the visitors do not get any opportunity to build meaningful partnerships.

Availability of regular 1stXI players has been an issue for Greenock for various matches and this Saturday Cammy Calder and Chirag Pandher are both unavailable due to work shifts.

However, Greenock captain Greg McDougall has most of his regular 1stXI squad available plus into the side comes Nikhil Kadyan who has transferred from Stenhousemuir.