NEITHER of the Central League Cup finalists are likely to be caught in the horns of a dilemma ahead of Tuesday's showdown at Lochburn Park.

A desperate need for league points ensures both Arthurlie and Shotts cannot afford to hold anything back in crunch league matches tomorrow against Glenafton and Girvan respectively.

At pains to get this message across to his playing charges is Barrhead boss Mark Cameron, who makes no secret of wanting Arthurlie to climb away from the foot of the Super Premier table.

He said: "The game against Shotts has to go on the back burner and I'll be disappointed if I hear their name mentioned tomorrow.

"Tuesday will look after itself and more so in light of our current league predicament which places demands on our players to remain focused on nothing other than getting all three points against Glenafton.

"We have picked up just one point from 12 and that is simply not good enough."

Arthurlie's injury list is fast clearing up to the extent that Cameron is delighted to reveal only the long-term injured quartet of Davie Williams, Craig Higgins, Martin Hughes and Davie Craig are excluded from tomorrow's selection thoughts.

One flight lower down, Shotts are every bit as desperate for a morale-boosting victory when Girvan visit Hannah Park on league duty.

That's because Dunky Sinclair's men are keen to end a toiling run that has dented promotion aspirations through failing to win in their last three match-ups against Lanark (3-3), Maybole (2-2) and Kilbirnie (1-1; lost on penalties).

The return of suspension-free Mark McKeever and a probable debut by latest signing John Osborne could provide the perfect fillip, according to top-scoring Shotts striker Kevin Barr.

He said: "It's not all doom and gloom because we've actually played well in our last three games despite results not going our way.

"We've badly missed someone of Mark's experience and having him back considerably strengthens our midfield, while Oz will put himself about and take the weight of myself and Chris Gardiner in the striking areas.

"Obviously we've slipped off the pace as far as promotion goes, so taking the points tomorrow is a must to get ourselves back in the hunt and that's why the Girvan game has been the only one spoken about."

lWest Region official Scott Robertson has declared himself willing to accommodate member clubs looking to bring forward next weekend's kick-off times in order to avoid clashing with the televised Scotland v Norway encounter.

He said: "I don't envisage any problems as long as both clubs are in agreement before any requests are made."

Glenafton have been quickest off the mark to re-arrange their Super Premier encounter against Auchinleck Talbot for a 1pm start and they may well have opened the floodgates.