Furious Willie Harvey blasted his Rutherglen Glencairn side’s “atrocious” second-half showing against Drumchapel United.
Harvey pointed out that he was missing striker Jack McIlveen, Ryan McManus broke down with a groin injury during the warm-up and his team-line had seven trialists in it, as they lost 2-0 in the West of Scotland League First Division.
But he’s looking for a reaction when they host St Cadoc’s on Saturday.
He said: “In the first half we played really well, had a lot of chances and didn’t take them.
“But in the second half we were atrocious. We just lost our way, our shape, and we were very, very poor.
“We were unfortunate that Jack McIlveen, one of my main strikers, is on holiday, and Ryan McManus did his groin in the warm-up and had to play the first half while struggling.
“I’m not going to start making excuses through injuries, but Jack McIlveen and Ryan McManus together are going to cause all sorts of trouble for all sorts of people.
“Fraser Malcolm had been ill all week, and when you look at our team-lines we had seven trialists, and you can only use four of them at any given time.”
Harvey added: “In the first half we should have put the game to bed, unfortunately we didn’t, and suffered for that in the second half.
“They had two opportunities. Kyle Chrystal lost his man at a corner and we lost a goal.
“With four minutes to go a cross ball got to the back post, Kyle missed it, it wasn’t picked up and it was a goal.
“The good thing is we know where the problems lie – it’s not as if we’re thinking: ‘What’s happened here?”
With just a point against Gartcairn from their opening two games, Harvey is aware that they need to get their campaign kick-started on Saturday.
He added: “We’re looking for a response. Our first three games are against teams you expect to be challenging – Gartcairn, Drumchapel and St Cadoc’s – so we need a response.
“Hopefully we’ll get a couple of players back. Harry Mitchell was back in training on Monday night, Jack McIlveen will be back from holiday. Ryan McManus will be out, his groin injury will have him out for a wee while.
“But we’ve got others who can come in and that makes a difference for us.”
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