TRANENT Juniors manager Colin Nish says he has not paid much attention to talks of a new Conference League in Scotland and is instead “focusing on the teams ahead” in the final games of the season, as his club push for promotion to the Scottish Professional Football League.

Lowland League and Highland League clubs have been given to the end of this week to respond to proposals for a new fifth-tier Scottish conference league which would potentially include Celtic, Rangers, Hearts and Aberdeen B teams.

A new 10-team Conference League has been proposed which would be the new fifth tier of Scottish football, positioned between SPFL League Two and the Lowland and Highland Leagues.

Celtic, Rangers, Hearts and Aberdeen B teams could, if approved, be joined in the league by six Lowland and Highland League clubs to make up a new 10-team division.

But Nish said that he was not paying the proposals much attention.

He told Courier Sport: “I haven’t really given it much thought to be honest.

“I’m just focusing on the games ahead and trying to win as many points as possible this season.

“It’s a tough one with these development sides because sometimes you can play them and they field a team that would beat anyone in the league.

“Other times you face them and the team is nowhere near as strong.

“We’ve benefited from that at times this season but also been hurt by it too.

“Personally, I enjoy taking on these sides. They offer a different style of football, a more challenging one to play against.

“I feel the better opponents you take on are better for squad development.

“I’ll let others debate these proposals, though; I’m just focused on the teams ahead of us.”

Tranent fought back from a goal down on Saturday to beat Open Goal Broomhill 2-1 away from home and move Nish’s side to fourth in the Lowland League table, with five games left to play.

The Tranent boss praised his side’s character to come back and claim the victory.

He said: “That was one of our better performances of the season on Saturday.

“It’s a really difficult place to go and to come from a goal down and win was fantastic.

“We’ve got five games to go and we’re in a good position.

“I’m taking it one game at a time and encouraging the players to do the same.

“We’re not looking two, three games into the future. It’s all about the next game and making sure we get three points.”

Tranent are five points off league leaders Spartans, with the Edinburgh side the only team above them in the league who are eligible for the end-ofseason play-offs which would determine possible promotion to League Two.

Tranent face Bo’ness United at home on Saturday and Nish said that he felt confident going into the game.

He said: “We’re looking forward to the game.

“We’re in a good place with a few guys coming back after illness.

“James Keatings has been struggling with illness so we’ll need to assess him ahead of the game.

“But the squad is strong and we’re feeling confident.”