Marvin Bartley was delighted to pick up his first win as Queen of the South boss as they came from a goal down to win 3-1 away at Peterhead.
The Gaffer was pleased with the reaction from his players after they shot themselves in the foot by giving away a needless penalty right on half-time.
He said: “I’m delighted for the boys. They were the better team in the first half.We gave away a sloppy penalty but I said to them at half-time, sometimes in life you need to deal with adversity and that was one of those times.
“Paul (McKay) knew he shouldn’t have made the mistake that he did. I said to the players go and dig your mate out of a hole.
“You’ve been good in the first half and if you continue to do that in the second half, we will continue to get stronger.
“We have worked really hard in the last two weeks, we’re sharper, we feel fitter and I said if they do that, they will win the game and they did that.”
David Martindale made the headlines last week when his explosive half-time dressing down was recorded away to Stenhousemuir. But his former assistant chose a softer approach at the break.
Bartley said: “You can’t be reactionary to things that happen in the last few seconds.
“If you’re emotional, I could go in there shouting and probably not get the reaction we did in the second half. I told them to continue what they are doing. There is a massive belief in them as players, so they just have to go and deal with it and they got better.
“They dug Paul out of a hole. He did brilliantly in the second half. It is easy to go under. You give that penalty away and then you don’t want the ball, shying away from tackles, but he didn’t do that, he stood up and was counted along with his
team-mates.”
Queens have been prone to letting leads slip this season so the manager was chuffed to alter the narrative.
He said: “One of the things I said pre-match was that everyone is going to make mistakes, whether it’s in life or in football it’s how you react.
“I can never say to them that they will go out there and not make a mistake. That’s not going to happen.
“It’s how they react, that’s what we can control, and they reacted in a fantastic way.
“It’s not an easy place to come, especially when you go one down and they start wasting time.
“They don’t want to put the ball back on when they’ve gone out but you have to deal with these
things.
“I told the boys not to get frustrated and they didn’t.
“I’m delighted for them. I’m delighted for every single player, the staff, the football club and the fans who came up with us – absolutely brilliant. So nice to go home with a 3-1 win.”
