Gutted Albion Rovers boss Brian Reid says his side must learn to the basics right after throwing away a victory over Annan with a dramatic last-gasp collapse.
The Cliftonhill side were on course to make it back-to-back wins in League Two when Charlie Reilly scored from the penalty spot in the 91st minute of the match to put Rovers 2-1 up, following Tommy Goss’ penalty for Annan cancelling out Adam Fernie’s opener in the first half.
However, just 60 seconds after Reilly found the net Annan threw caution to the wind and were rewarded when Benjamin Luissant netted an equaliser with the last kick of the ball.
Reid admitted: “It was a very sore one to take.
“We thought the game was done after we scored the penalty with a minute left.
“But they punt the ball down the park and it’s poor decision making from us.
“We should let the ball go through to the goalkeeper but we don’t, then it’s a stramash in the box and their boy hits it, it takes a deflection and goes in.
“It just sums up our bad luck these days but we need to defend moments better than that. It’s basics.
“We thought we had the three points in the bag, but now it’s only one.”
In an action-packed game, Annan also missed a first half penalty when Goss blazed over and Reid added: “Obviously we are disappointed, but I don’t think we played well enough to get the win.
“A draw was probably a fair result. First half we were the better team but in the last 15 minutes we weren’t at it.
“Annan are a big, strong team, they go direct with long throw-ins to the box.
“For most parts of the game we held our own, but we never really created much in the second half, or passed it with any great urgency.
“We’ve had the points snatched away, but we’ll just need to dust ourselves down for the next game.
“It would have been nice to get two wins on the trot but four points from two games shows we are heading in the right direction, and we need to take confidence from that.”
The draw leaves Rovers seventh in the table with four points from five games and extended their winless run at home to 15 games in all competitions.
They now face back-to-back away games in League Two with Stirling Albion on Saturday followed by a trip to Borough Briggs to face bottom side Elgin on September 10.
“Our away form has been decent so we are not worried about that,” Reid insisted. “We are more than capable of going to win at these places.
“Everyone is capable of beating everyone in this division and that’s not being blasé.
“We won at Stirling and Elgin last season so that’s what we need to look to do again, and get more wins on the road.”
Meanwhile, Rovers are still looking to strengthen their defence following James McGowan’s exit last week for a new life in Australia and Reid hopes to see a new signing.
He said: “I’ve been trying to get a few loans in and I have been speaking to someone this week, so we’ll need to see if we can do anything.”
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