Can I begin by wishing readers of the Evening Times and all sports fans the season's best.

I believe we have made massive progress at Glasgow Warriors during my period as head coach - and on Friday at Firhill we must deliver a performance against Edinburgh Gunners that is concrete proof of that.

The performance that culminated in our second-half capitulation at Murrayfield in the first leg of the David Lloyd 1872 Cup was unacceptable and the players have had that rammed down their throats.

Our defensive statistics, in terms of tackles made and missed, were the worst of the season. The scoreline of 39-6 to Edinburgh reflected just how poor we were.

We know that particularly in terms of sheer physicality we failed to front up and I can promise our fans we will not let them down in that respect at Firhill in our 3pm kick-off.

They were magnificent at Murrayfield and the level of noise and the intensity of their backing was not reflected by our performance.

I believe in my players and their ability to respond to this setback to give our fans what they deserve in front of what should be a sell- out Firhill crowd.

I have made changes and some of these were big decisions. Johnny Beattie is out of the squad and Kelly Brown will come in at No.8 and that was a hard call to make.

Ultimately, though Johnny is a fine player, he did not produce - although he was not helped by the front five.

In the front row, both Fergus Thomson and Moray Low will start while James Eddie will come in at blindside flanker to cover Kelly's positional switch. In the backs, Sam Pinder will replace Colin Gregor at scrum-half.

Individually, I don't think we came out on top in one contest last week, but the level of motivation and hurt the boys have displayed this week indicates to me that will not be the case on Friday and nor should it.

But the players can't take all responsibility for last week and myself and my coaching team have gone over in detail where we went wrong.

We know that in terms of turning around the tie and winning the 1872 Cup that will be virtually impossible because of the aggregate deficit. As such, we have not even thought of that - all our focus is on reclaiming our pride and trying to do everything we can to win this rugby match.

But this game is not just important in terms of local bragging rights, it is also vital in terms of our Magners League campaign. We have now dropped back to fifth place from second and we want to get back above Edinburgh.

In this respect our home form does provide us with some confidence. In our last two Magners League games at Firhill, we have beaten Cardiff and the reigning champions Leinster, and our only loss was to the Ospreys 21-18.

So we know that at Firhill, with our own fans behind us, we are a match for anyone if we execute our game plan.

We need to get our application and our intensity bang on and show pride in the Glasgow jersey - nothing else will do.