Dougie MacDuff cursed a ‘missed opportunity’ as Irvine Vics slumped to a surprise 2-1 defeat at home to Bellshill Athletic on Saturday.
Two first half goals for the visitors proved too much of a mountain for the Westenders to climb with a late second-half Kevin Adam strike scant consolation for boss MacDuff.
He felt his players let themselves down on an afternoon Third Division promotion rivals Winton Rovers and Vale of Clyde were inactive and leaders Lanark Utd lost against Larkhall Thistle.
MacDuff said: “It’s annoying because it’s a missed opportunity. We had a chance to move into the top three and we’ve not taken it. The only positive I can take is we haven’t lost any ground.
“Full credit to Bellshill they started the game very well but we were awful sluggish.
“We created three chances in the first half and that’s not acceptable for a home team.
“I said to them at the break they had 15 minutes to improve before we start making changes.
“We dominated from there but if you don’t get a goal within the first 20 minutes it’s always hard to come back from two down and get a result.
“Kevin’s pulled one back with not long to go but take nothing away from Bellshill, they defended very well, and they were missing a few key players.
“It was very similar to last week against Ardrossan in that it was a game of two halves, only this time we were on the losing side.”
Bellshill took the lead in the 28th minute when striker Kyle Craig pounced on a fortuitous break of the ball to squeeze a shot under Vics goalkeeper Owen McCallum.
It was 2-0 seven minutes before half time when Ben Elliot ghosted in at the back post to tap home a cross-cum-shot from close range.
Alessandro Savarese wasted two golden opportunities to haul one back for Vics before Adam steered Chris Jackson’s low drive into the net.
Vics threw everything at an equaliser but were out of luck as they tasted home defeat for the first time since the opening day of the season.
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