'I'm at a far superior club now' - Ahead of facing Camelon this weekend, Linlithgow Rose boss Gordon Herd has no bitterness to ex-club over March sacking

Seven months after experiencing the extreme disappointment of being sacked by Camelon, Linlithgow Rose boss Gordon Herd has revealed that any bitterness felt at the time has now disappeared.
Gordon Herd is going for a seventh straight league win when Rose take on his former club Camelon (Pic by Scott Louden)Gordon Herd is going for a seventh straight league win when Rose take on his former club Camelon (Pic by Scott Louden)
Gordon Herd is going for a seventh straight league win when Rose take on his former club Camelon (Pic by Scott Louden)

Rose – on a run of six straight East of Scotland Premier Division wins after goals by Jamie McKenzie and Mark Stowe gave them a 2-0 home win over Jeanfield Swifts last weekend – visit Camelon in the league this Saturday with Herd keen to put another one over on his ex-club, whom Rose beat 2-1 in a South Challenge Cup tie on October 16.

"I’ll tell everybody the same thing,” Herd told the Journal and Gazette. “We’ve landed at a better place so they (Camelon) have done us a favour.

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"I’m not bitter about it. I was bitter when we first got sacked because it was nothing to do with football but we’ve landed at a far superior club so there is nothing to be bitter about any more.

"I’ve said to everybody Saturday is just another game for us.

“Camelon are down fighting for their lives, we are at the other end of the table.

"It will be a hard game. Albeit in the first half at Prestonfield we should have been out of sight against them in the cup tie, we kind of made it difficult for ourselves in the second half.

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"And I think they’ve added to the squad. Their manager has had another few weeks in to get his feet under the table and analyse his squad so it will be a difficult game, like any in this league.”

Third-placed Rose, who have 29 points from 14 games, are now in the title hunt as they eye chasing down leaders Penicuik Athletic (39 points from 14 games) and second-placed Tranent Juniors (38 points from 16 matches).

“We just need to concentrate hard, keep winning games and see what happens above us,” Herd said.

"We are hopeful that we can catch the teams above us but it’s a big ask.

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"All credit must go to the players. They have bought into what we’re doing, we like to ply at a high tempo, we’ve upped the tempo in training.

"We felt the fitness levels needed to be improved a bit. We’ve added some new faces, so a number of things have added to how well we’ve done.

"We came in and knew we would have an impact. Maybe as quickly as we have, probably not.”

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