EXPERIENCED Kilwinning Rangers striker Ian Cashmore and manager Chris Strain are hopeful their side can beat the drop, following a vital weekend victory.

The basement side defeated fellow strugglers Troon 3-0 at home and are now three points behind the third bottom side with three games in hand and are a point adrift of second bottom Largs Thistle, with four games in hand.

Cashmore, who came off the bench to score the vital third goal against his old club, won the Premier Division with Buffs in 2003.

He is desperate to help them preserve top flight status and said: "It was such an important game and defeat was unthinkable. I thought we played really well and deserved to win. We had a lot of confidence from the Scottish Cup win against Kelty Hearts. I was pleased to come off the bench and score and hopefully I can get back in the starting line up although Kenny Hogg is playing really well.

"It was good to see Darren Moffat get a goal as he has done well since signing and Stephen Swift is good with the younger guys in the dressing room. We still have seven league games to go so hopefully we can stay up. The target is to beat Beith on Saturday, we have already defeated them this season."

Strain added: "It was a great performance and we dominated the game. It was good to see Bryan Boylan get a goal for all the work he has put in and Ian Cashmore has a lot to offer, he will always score goals. If we keep on reproducing these performances until the end of the season I am sure we will be okay, but nothing has been achieved yet. We look forward to the Beith game and go there looking for three points as that would move us into the playoff spot with Largs and Troon not playing."

Strain is delighted with backing for the club.

He added: There's a lot of support and you can see that by the fact four buses are going to Auchinleck next weekend for the Scottish Cup tie."

Meanwhile Irvine Meadow co-boss Gareth Turner was heartened with his team's display as they defeated Blantyre Victoria 1-0 to secure their eighth win out of 15 in the Super League First Division. This leaves them in the mix for promotion as they face Clydebank away on Saturday.

Turner said: "It wasn't our best performance but the most important thing was the win. We were a bit rusty since we had no game the last couple of weeks. It was a good goal. I would say we are in the mix for promotion but still have 11 games to play so a lot can happen. If we can beat Clydebank, who are third on Saturday we will go ahead of them with two games in hand so that has to be the aim."

Irvine Victoria head to Girvan to face promotion chasers Girvan.

The Westenders are rooted to bottom spot and running out of games. So they must look to win.