East Kilbride Thistle boss praises captain's loyalty after knocking back other offers

East Kilbride Thistle returned to the Showpark this week for pre-season training and boss Aaron Connolly is delighted to see club skipper Adam Edgar extend his stay for the forthcoming West of Scotland Fourth Division campaign.

The Jags finished outside the play-off spots in the division last term and will want to improve on that this season and a vital part in realising that target is keeping their skipper at the club.

Connolly says Edgar, who scored 11 goals and provided 14 assists in 30 appearances for Thistle last term, had the opportunity to move to a bigger club but has stuck around to help EK.

”Adam is a massive player for us,” said Connolly. “This will be his fourth season with us now. We have spoken a lot about the continuity of our core group and Adam is a huge part of that.

“He had plenty of offers to move himself up the leagues but he’s chosen to stay here for another season.

“That is testament to the work we are trying to do here.

“We understand we aren’t the most fashionable club and we are at the bottom end of the ladder, but we are working really hard to continue improving the club and Adam has bought into and understood that.”

He added: “It is good to be back and it was great to be working on the pitch with the boys over the course of the week.

“I kept it fairly simple for them this week, just getting them back in spending time together and getting the legs moving again, blow off some cobwebs. It was a fairly light week, although we did do a double session on the Saturday.

“We’ve got six new boys coming into the squad so it was good having them around the group and giving them time to settle.

“There’s another couple of players that we are looking at. I don’t think there will be any new signings in this week, but I am hoping to get one or two done by next week.”

Thistle will play their first pre-season friendly on Saturday when they welcome West of Scotland First Division side St Roch’s to the Showpark and Connolly knows it will be a tough game to kick-off with.

He said: “St Roch’s is a massive test for us. They had a really strong finish to last season and they have added some good players as well.

“Like most friendlies, we will try to put in a good performance, identify things we can work on and get some fitness into the players.

“I’m really excited just to get started again.”

Follow Lanarkshire Live Sport on X via @LanLiveSport, like us on Facebook or find us on Instagram for the latest sports news, pictures and video.