DEFIANT midfield ace Ben Lewis insists his Kilwinning Rangers side can win the title, despite suffering a weekend setback.

They were held 1-1 away to relegation-threatened Troon in a game which saw goalie Adam Strain limp off with a calf injury.

Buffs, who have six matches remaining, are 14 points clear of title favourites Auchinleck Talbot, who have 15 left to play.

Lewis, in his 11th season with the Buffs, said: “We had hoped to go and win the game at Troon. But they are fighting to stay up and it was a blow to lose Adam. We are still in with a chance. Our target is to pick up as many points as possible and set Talbot a target.

“We have to hope that they will drop some points. There’s still a West of Scotland Cup tie to come against them. We have come a long way since revamping the team at the end of last season and not many people said we would challenge for the league. It’s a big game against Rutherglen on Saturday and we must look to win.”

Meanwhile Irvine Meadow have brought a shareholders’ meeting to discuss whether to support joining the pyramid system to this Sunday from March 22. And the SJFA West Region are planning a rival West of Scotland League.

The club said in a statement: “We have someone coming to our Committee meeting on Tuesday night from the West Region Juniors to explain the Juniors setting up a WOSL. Meanwhile the Lowland League proposal is getting finalised at a couple of meetings and hopefully we’ll have more information by the end of the week.”

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