Name: Marc Bain
Role: Manager
Team: Stonelaw AFC

What’s been the biggest reason Stonelaw have been so consistent so far this season?

We set ourselves a high standard, we understand what a good performance looks like and for us it’s about going into every game and trying to match that standard as much as we can. After a bad result we make sure the focus is on reaction rather than letting a bad result affect us long term. The attitude going into big games is always strong.

As a young group, what’s helped you deal with being the team others now want to stop?

Although we know we’re one of the younger teams in the league it’s not something we think about going into games. We’re a group of mates outside of football so I think that sort of togetherness and trust helps us. John Dempster Sr plays a big part too, his maturity and experience is an important thing for us on and off the park.

John Dempster is leading the scoring charts — what does that say about the work and service around him?

John has been a big player for us this season and we can always rely on him for goals. Hard work is often a focus on and off the ball, we put a lot of miles in during games and each player has played their part in one point or another.

Away from goals, where do you feel this Stonelaw side has improved most compared to earlier in the season?

Defensive shape and Discipline are two areas we’ve improved on massively since last season. A switch of shape has allowed us to more defensively solid and we’ve managed to keep goals conceded at a minimum in a lot of games this season. Discipline is a huge part of this, there’s been a lot of times this season where we’ve had to grind results out and managed to do so, something which we struggled with at times last season.

What would a ‘good’ second half of the season look like for this group, regardless of where you finish?

Although the first half of the season has been positive there are still areas where we need to improve, we appreciate where we are in the table although it means nothing if we don’t back it up with results in the second half of the season, we have a much tougher run of fixtures now compared to the first half of the season so a step up is required. However I am confident that we are capable of making that step up, it’s all about attitude and improving week on week. For me it’s about ending the season without any regrets about how things finished.