David Proctor admits his young Cumbernauld Colts side were 'naive' in their defeat to Bo'ness at the weekend - and can't afford a repeat when they welcome Tranent tonight.
The Broadwood boss didn't have a dugout debut to savour on Saturday as they were beaten 3-0 in their Lowland League opener.
Yellow cards were flying about at Newton Park with six Colts players booked and Proctor reckons his side were riled up to easily by their opponents.
So he wants them to learn from that when newly-promoted Tranent coming calling this evening.
Proctor said: "Saturday was a tough one to take. Bo'ness were streetwise, aggressive and a wee bit cuter than us in certain situations.
"We allowed ourselves to get riled up a bit so in that sense we showed a wee bit of naivety.
"There were quite a lot of boys making their debuts at this level so they will now realise that if you want to compete at this level, you need to be physical and not let the opponents rile you up.
"You can't be nice on the ball and be technically gifted, you've got to also be prepared to take the knocks and pick yourself up.
"There's plenty to work on but the bonus is we've got a quick turnaround with the Tranent game tonight so hopefully we can get Saturday out of the system."
Tranent opened their campaign with a 3-2 defeat against Proctor's former side East Kilbride.
And he added: "Tranent are another team coming up from the East of Scotland League and these teams have traditionally been really strong and aggressive, as well as being good football teams.
"So that's something we need to be prepared for.
"But we want to try and assert our game on them, rather than letting them dictate.
"That will be the plan for tonight."
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