Queens boss Marvin Bartley has told his players they will need to learn to live with the physical side of games if they want to be successful.
The Palmerston boss feels his side were bullied by part-time side Clyde as they huffed and puffed their way to a point in Lanarkshire.
He said: “The first half performance is so far off what is acceptable and what we have been producing. We had told the players what to expect, we told them if they deal with the physical side and set-plays, they will win the game.
“We didn’t deal with those. We were bullied and they showed more heart and determination than most of us and that is unacceptable.
“It isn’t good enough when other teams are working harder than you and physically dominating you, putting their heads in when boots are flying – that’s what part-time teams do and if you don’t match that you’re never going to climb the table in this league and you’re never going to be successful. That is something I need to address.”
It was a poor opening 45 minutes for the Doonhamers as they struggled to get to grips with the game and one that frustrated Bartley.
He added: “I saw people jumping out of tackles, people kicking the ball because they think someone else is coming in, that can’t happen when you’re on the football pitch. That is the worst 45 minutes of football since I’ve come in as manager.
“You can’t just turn up for half a game, nobody in this league is good enough to turn up for 45 minutes. Good teams do it every minute of every game, you can’t play good free-flowing football all the time, but you need to stand up and be counted like they did at the end of the Airdrie game and help each other.”
Queens trailed at the interval but Ruari Paton did get them back level early in the second half and the manager hoped it would kick-start a push for all three points.
He said: “We felt we could go on and win the game, we had more than enough chances to do so.
“You think ‘Right we’ve got one, lets go on and get another’ but it didn’t happen. As I’ve said if you only turn up for half a game, you’ve got an uphill battle.
“Even if we had won it wouldn’t have been acceptable. I am massive on performance and that wasn’t good enough.
“They’re down fighting for their lives, and they’ve shown massive spirit and that they are willing to put their bodies on the line.
“If you’re not willing to do that you’re not going to win games of football. We warned them about all of that, technically we have some very gifted players, but you can’t just turn up.”
The game ended in controversy as Queens had what would’ve been a winning goal disallowed and the boss himself was red carded.
“It was a bizarre red card. It’s interesting, I went to shake the referee’s hand and said something not directed at the official and not insulting or anything like that and it’s a red card, so I’m not sure. He said I said something I haven’t said. I will deal with it next week and see what comes out of it”.
