Irvine Vics boss Dougie MacDuff says Wednesday’s match away to Saltcoats Victoria becomes massive after his side made it nine games without a win at the start of the new league campaign.

Irvine went down 2-0 to Maybole at Ladywell Stadium on Saturday which meant they have taken just one point from the first nine games.

Despite the disappointing result, MacDuff remains upbeat about his side’s performances and says the win will come if they keep working hard enough.

They travel to face Saltcoats on Wednesday, who are the only team below them in the league table, and the Irvine boss is under no illusions as to how big a game it will be.

He said: “The results have really gone against, considering I feel we have played really well for a lot of the games we have lost.

“The boys have to keep their heads up and keep working work hard and I keep telling them that if they do that, then a win will come eventually.

“We know how big Wednesday’s game will be and we know that if we can get a win there and put a run of results together then the league table could look a whole lot different in a few weeks, but we know there is a lot of hard work to go before we get there.

“We have to keep doing what we’re doing and I’m sure the hard work will pay off eventually.

“We’re still a relatively new team together and we’ve got to make sure we are tight and compact and hard to play against.

“We have to cut out conceding early goals which gives us a mountain to climb before we really get started.

“I know all teams are in the same situation but I think once we can get back to two training sessions a week and we can iron out a few more things then the better results will start to come our way.

“Even at training there is a real sense that the boys know that the results are coming because they are all working extremely hard and it’s pleasing to see them go that extra mile when we need it because of how tough the fixture schedule has been.

“Hopefully one win can catapult our season onto a better road and we can go from there”.