Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Ross Wilson’s second stint in charge of Maryhill is a refusal to allow results to dent belief in his ability to turn around the famous old Glasgow club’s fortunes.

Many longer in the tooth bosses would have gone into their shell after the Lochburn Park side’s underwhelming start to this coronavirus affected campaign of three defeats, two wins and a draw from six Conference A outings to date.

However Ross, still only a tender 32 years of age, has long since learned to take the rough and the smooth of football management in his stride and come bouncing back all the better for it.

The holder of UEFA coaching badges exploded onto the Junior scene in 2016 when his feat in steering minnows Kello Rovers to promotion into the West Region Championship gained due recognition after big guns Irvine Meadow persuaded him to take up their helm for what proved to be an acrimonious and short lived 13 game reign.

An undaunted Ross initially took up assistant roles at Lowland League sides East Kilbride and B.S.C. Glasgow as well as briefly taking charge at Maryhill before day-job work commitments put his football career on hold.

He revealed, “I had to re-locate down to Nottingham for close on 18 months but jumped at the opportunity to come back up the road again and it wasn’t long before I was back out on the training ground helping out Johnny Millar at Beith.

“That was an enjoyable experience but moving back to Maryhill at the start of this season was an easy decision to make not least of all because I’m not afraid of the hard work needed to bring about improvements.

“And without wanting to appear belittling to myself, I knew this was never going to be a one-man job so having the varied skills of Tony Boyce, Peter Kane, Jim Ross and Brian Turner to call upon as my backroom team has been nothing short of a godsend.

”There are no pots of gold hidden away at Lochburn so we cannot buy up all the best players and have instead gone down the road of rearing and developing our own talent from the juvenile and former pro-youth ranks which in itself has brought a host of challenges to overcome throughout the pandemic.

“The likes of Pollok and Auchinleck Talbot may have been able to decide on playing through the virus or taking a season out but by comparison, Maryhill’s dilemma was always whether the club would ever start up again if we couldn’t keep the wheels turning.

“There was a very real fear of our 136-year-old history coming to an end if the plug had been pulled but thankfully the Maryhill people retained an enthusiasm for keeping things going and everyone has rallied together to do their bit to help out.

”It would be a real shot in the arm if the team could get back playing however I don’t see things starting up anytime soon.” The Giffnock based Wilson brought in a raft of new signings during the summer months, most notably Tony Etherson ex-Arthurlie centre-back, and former Clydebank defender Ross Lyden, so the marked improvement in his side’s goals against column brings a smile to his face.

He reasoned, “We were leaking goals like a sieve when I first returned at the end of last season so it’s encouraging as well as a reward for a lot of hours spent on the training ground that only 9 have been shipped in our six league games to date.

“Unfortunately we have been unable to turn all the better performances into points but that will come as the players were showing some really good qualities before the latest lockdown put us out of action.

“It also helps our cause to have landed a top notch striker in the shape of Ross McKenzie, still only 21, yet with a wealth of experience gained from playing up front with Beith over the past couple of seasons.

“Ross is good enough to play senior let alone at WoSFL Premier Division level and persuading him to come on board is a real feather in our cap as his ability to score goals at the other end of the pitch will help us keep improving as a team”

Meanwhile, the Maryhill gaffer’s hopes of a return to playing action will be dashed if the WoSFL clubs are not given the green light for a restart within the next three weeks.

That much was apparent after new WoSFL chairman Matt Bamford, fresh from recently announcing he and his fellow board officials are up against it in attempting to have this season played out to a satisfactory conclusion, issued a statement confirming the WoSFL Board’s required timeframe for a possible restart.

It read: “Due to the current suspension of the game due to the coronavirus pandemic, the current football season will be officially ended and declared null and void if clubs are not allowed to resume full contact training by the April 3, therefore allowing for the resumption of competitive fixtures no later than the April 17.

“At the start of the season, the then Interim Management Group confirmed that 50% of matches across all divisions would be required to be played to allow the league to be determined on a points per game basis, should the league competition have to end prior to the completion of all fixtures.

“An average of 10 rounds of fixtures is required to be played to achieve that milestone and allow all clubs to have played each other at least once.

“With the premier division champions requiring to be determined no later than May 22 to allow possible participation in the Lowland League play-offs, this would require clubs to play both weekend and midweek fixtures from April 17.

“Therefore should it become clear that this will not be possible, the league will be declared null and void and the focus will thereafter be on planning for the start of the 2021/22 season.

“Meanwhile the league welcomes the announcement from the Scottish Government regarding the easing of lockdown restrictions but would remind clubs that the current suspension of training remains in force until we receive a further update from the Scottish FA.”

As things currently stand, the WoSFL Board’s considerations are thought to be centred around no more than a trio of Premier Division outfits, Clydebank, Darvel and Irvine Meadow, reputedly the only tier six clubs on the verge of being awarded an SFA licence and becoming eligible (if also emerging as WoSFL Champions) for taking part in the aforementioned Lowland League play-offs.