BEING a coach is all about making tough decisions and ahead of tomorrow night's visit of the Scarlets, I have one of the hardest in my coaching career.

Dan Parks has been outstanding for Glasgow Warriors and his record as the Magners League record points scorer speaks volumes for the contribution Dan has made over the seasons he has worn a Warriors jersey.

But he has had two bad days at the office in consecutive games and, after three matches, we have now missed 27 points in penalty kicks. That is why we have lost our last two games at Firhill against Ospreys and then in Ireland at Connacht.

I know Dan is hurting right now and is frustrated that his form has dipped - when that happens with an important player, as coach you have a decision to make.

That is whether you pull the player back from the spotlight and allow him to work on recovering what is missing away from the pressure. Or whether you say 'you have come through this before and I back you to get it right'.

So I have a decision to make and one I have to get right for the team and for Dan as an individual. But in Colin Gregor and Ruaridh Jackson, we have two young guys more than ready to step into the breach.

In that respect, I don't have to name the side until an hour before kick-off on Friday night, and it may be that I will hold off until then to make full use of the leeway I am afforded. But whatever call I make it will be done for the best of everyone concerned.

As for getting back on track tomorrow against the Scarlets then again I am totally positive. I said it in last week's column, before we went to Connacht and lost 15-8, I repeat my belief that we know what is going wrong and are more than capable of getting it right.

The pressure is now that we have to do so at the first time of asking against the Scarlets in front of our Glasgow fans.

But ahead of the Scarlets game, what I can say to our punters is that we were in a similar position last season and we turned it around, and we have faith we can do so again this time around.

Scarlets are a rugby playing team and I expect the game to be more free-flowing than the game at Connacht but what we must do is play with our top three inches.

As the frustration levels soared at Connacht, too many of the boys tried to do too much themselves. We must keep cool heads and keep faith with the game plan. If we do we will be all right and our fans have a huge part to play in lifting the lads at Firhill tomorrow night.

Finally, I would say that I am delighted to be involved with the Scotland camp and in particular, working with the backs, for the Autumn Series.

But in no way will that cause me to lose focus on Glasgow which is and always will be my priority.

We will, I hope, have a decent number of Warriors involved in the internationals with New Zealand, South Africa and Canada and working with them within an international context will I am sure be good for both the boys and myself.