Bathgate Thistle manager Stewart Devine has admitted that his side’s position at the bottom of the East of Scotland Conference X table is merited but believes that there are positives in the side that gives him hope for next season, writes Kieran Polland.
Thistle were at the receiving end of a 6-3 defeat to local rivals Fauldhouse United at Creamery Park on Saturday which leaves them one point behind Pumpherston in the table.
Despite the loss, Bathgate created plenty of good chances but were often unable to provide the final touch needed.
Devine stated the result wasn't good enough - but still heaped praise on his players for their resilience.
He commented: "The first half was unacceptable and nowhere near good enough from what we’ve done in the
last month. We’ve been playing good football up to this point but in the first half we weren’t at it.
“The second half we managed to create good chances and got on the ball more, only to get caught with a sucker punch to go 4-2 down and I think it knocked the stuffing out of us a wee bit.
“We did get back in it towards the end but just in the final third we were hitting shots where we should’ve been passing it and vice versa.”
Devine felt that his side could’ve done better for some of the goals, in particular at the start and the end of the game, saying: "We can’t really have any qualms about the result.
"I thought we could have dealt with a couple of the goals a lot better, the first one from the free-kick there’s nobody at the front area to deal with the ball and then at the very end, the player’s ran from the halfway line and nobody’s went anywhere near him.”
The Thistle manager did feel that with the game at 4-2 that if his team had managed to capitalise on the chance they had right before Fauldhouse scored their fifth, it could’ve changed the game from there.
He added: "If we take that chance then it goes 4-3 and it’s a whole new game from there, it doesn’t matter who you play against.
"During the second half I thought some of the boys’ work rate and movement off the ball were outstanding but we weren’t able to get the goal we needed.”
While Devine was refusing to throw the towel in on this season, he did admit that next season could be what the team needs in order to kick on.
“We need a few bodies in and we’re not naive to think that we’re the finished product," he said.
"We don’t want to finish bottom of the league but we are where we are for a reason, the league table doesn’t lie.
"If we can keep the core together and bring in a few then we can go again next year. We just need to be a bit more streetwise on and off the ball.”
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