KEYED-up Irvine Victoria boss Stevie Wilson is demanding an improvement from his players as they host derby rivals Irvine Meadow in a high-stakes confrontation on Saturday.

The Westenders are rooted to bottom spot in the Super First Division after a 2-0 home loss against Cumbernauld United, while the visitors are in promotion contention in sixth spot.

Wilson said: "There are only about five games in which I have been really disappointed with our performance and Saturday was one of them. I feel we just didn't play well and lost some poor goals. It was disappointing because we played really well last Tuesday and beat Beith Amateurs 6-1 away in a friendly. We really need to start getting victories if we want to stay up. The league table doesn't lie.

"But there couldn't be a better game to bounce back for than the Irvine derby. I expect there will be some meaty challenges. We won't be taking Meadow lightly but we don't fear them and must look to win the match."

Meanwhile Irvine Meadow co-manager Gareth Turner is leaving no stone unturned as he prepares for the showdown.

He said: "Irvine Vics always give us tough games and they have twice this season. I am surprised they are where they are in the league as they have real quality players like Eddie Ablohr and David Adams and they can cause us problems. We will not be taking them lightly for sure and are taking nothing for granted."

"But we will be looking to win because four of the top five teams are playing each other on Saturday so something has to give and a win would help us."