The Whe Ho boss made several changes to his team with Yoker set for a busy end to the season due to having played several games less than most of their league rivals so far.

McAulay felt Saturday was a good opportunity to freshen things up after the Holm Park side’s Scottish Cup quarter final exit at the hands of Linlithgow Rose — and he plans on using this weekend’s Central League Cup tie with Vale of Leven to give more of his fringe players some game time.

He said: “I made a few changes because a few of the boys hadn’t played much. I don’t think that had too much effect. We were just very poor, the guys we brought in are just as good as the players that have been playing.

“I’m not making any excuses we were just very poor on the day, we never performed at all.” McAulay admitted that the team’s Scottish cup defeat may have had a knock on effect as the players struggled to pick themselves up after their dream run came to an end. However he is keen for Yoker to get back on track and improve on their current league position which has now become his priority for the rest of the season.

He said: “It is always the same, you always have a bit of a downer when you go so far in the cup and then get knocked out. Against Linlithgow the boys done themsleves proud, it was a fantastic run they went on in the Scottish Cup.

“I’ll use this game against Vale of Leven to make sure everyone is match fit and raring to go by the time the league games come around.”