Shotts boss John McKeown was left baffled by his side’s second half performance at home to Thorniewood United after they suffered back-to-back defeats in the West of Scotland League First Division.
The Bonny fell behind inside 60 seconds at Hannah Park on Saturday and although they levelled before half time through Taylor Evans, their display after the break left a lot to be desired and United found a winner.
It is second league defeat on the spin following a 2-1 reverse at leaders St Cadoc’s on December 30 and McKeown said: “It was a strange game.
“We conceded inside the first minute when they got a free header in the six-yard box but after that we completely dominated the half, hit the bar and missed a couple of gilt-edged chances after we had equalised.
“At half-time I thought we were in control but in the second half, for whatever reason, we just never really reappeared.
“We dominated the ball but Thorniewood have a lot of good attacking players and they looked more dangerous than us, particularly on the counter.
“That’s how it panned out and they have scored from another wee mistake from our point of view. Our left-back got caught ball watching and they punished us. l feel if we played all day we wouldn’t have scored so we won’t make any excuses.
“We congratulate them on their win and we need to pick ourselves up after two defeats in a row in the league, which is disappointing after the run we had been on earlier in the season.
“The boys will be just as disappointed as I am with the second half performance.”
This weekend is up in the air for 11th place Shotts, with South Challenge Cup action tonight dictating how their Saturday will shape up.
McKeown’s men travel to Dundonald Bluebell for a tie which has been controversially postponed twice already, after a dispute over the venue for the fixture was followed by Bluebell ruling their pitch “unplayable” for last week’s rearranged match.
They will be hoping it is third time lucky and if Shotts progress, they will face Newtongrange Star in the fourth round of the cup on Saturday.
However, if Shotts lose they are due to play Whitletts in the league – but that could also change depending on the outcome of Whitletts’ cup game tonight away to Threave Rovers.
McKeown added: “Saturday is up in the air at the moment but all we can do is concentrate on one game at a time.
“The cups are becoming a hindrance to us getting some momentum in the league. The following week we are in the Scottish Junior Cup [away to Dundee East Craigie] so that is another league game missed. But we’ll just need to see what happens.”
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